Aphelion
by Vatonage
Summary: The world all around Ryan is constantly changing and adapting, leaving him in the dust. Already thrown down to the ground by his misguided childhood, he is at a major disadvantage— yet he still keeps his head in the clouds. One day, everything will come crumbling down around him. An original trainer story.
1. Rising from the Rubble

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon; Pokemon owns me. However, I do own my OCs.

* * *

A five-foot-nine, shaggy-haired teenager trudged his way through the busy streets of Jubilife. To everybody whom he passed by, he must have seemed your typical sixteen-year-old boy, living a normal life with mundane activities to go about. They could not have been more wrong.

This young man was currently pushing through the crowds of people, a contented look plastered upon his face.

"Gotta get to the PokeMart before it closes…" the boy mumbled to himself hurriedly, becoming slightly frustrated with the rush hour traffic.

Just then, a television blared in the storefront window just beside him. "Political tensions between Sinnoh and Hoenn are beginning to rise to dangerous levels," the newscaster projected, "and people are beginning to protest by—"

The dark-haired boy shook his head and continued on his way. "I don't have time for all that political junk."

His name is Ryan, and he is one of the most peculiar characters you will ever meet.

This is likely to blame on his childhood:

He never knew his parents. His earliest memories were those of the orphanage. The matron of the orphanage had told him that one night, she had all-too-stereotypically found him crying on the doorstep.

By the time Ryan was ten, he was fed up with the oppressive and judgmental atmosphere of the orphanage, so he ran away. Even though he hated the aspect of hurting those that he left behind at the orphanage, he knew he was ready for the next stage in his life. He lived off of the streets, getting handouts from the sympathetic passersby in Jubilife. In his head he knew it was morally wrong, so he validated it by only taken when given, and never asking for handouts.

Despite all of the cruelty around him, he was always happy-go-lucky. Fascinated by everything and everyone, nothing could bring him down.

But being a ten-year-old kid living off of the streets did have its challenges. Such a young child wandering wandering through a city on their own rose many suspicions, some from people with not-so-good intentions.

One fateful night, the attention of one of those not-so-good intentioned men rested upon the boy. He was whisked away into the night, not a trace left to be followed; not that there was anybody left to follow him. In all honesty, the boy had seen this day coming. To him, life was just a necessary phase of existence, and it would have to end eventually. He would go peacefully. Why complicate things more than they had to be? He had lived a full enough life, with much more excitement than he could have possibly imagined.

He was taken far away from the familiar streets of Jubilife and left to rot in an abandoned warehouse unless a ransom was paid: when there was nobody to pay it. Sitting down and all tied up, he had accepted his fate with open arms. He had resigned to patiently wait for his time to run out; luckily, it never would. He was saved by a Pokemon— a Pokemon that would soon become his only friend in this vast and unknown world.

But that's a story for another time.

He was left alone and forced to create his own life from the rubble of his past. Who he turned out to be was an image he created by himself; all his beliefs and ideals were those that he learned on his own- some more interesting than others.

The most important of those beliefs being that everything would always turn out right in the end. No matter how bad things got, he always believed that it would take a turn for the better eventually. He had gone through hell to get where he was now, and had done so without a second-glance from any of the ever present passersby on the street. Yet he still kept a positive attitude.

But if there was anything that contributed most to who he is today, it would be his love for astronomy. The night sky, the stars, the planets, the moon; they all intrigued him. Space was so vast and unknown that it never failed to cheer him up. It served to tie him down and provide some normalcy in his hectic life; if there was so much left to discover in the final frontier, who knew what was around the corner for him? Maybe, just maybe, some good luck would come his way.

The days he remembered most were when he was back in the orphanage. On those particularly hard nights when he couldn't sleep, he would go out on to the roof. Up above the skyline of Jubilife, he could just forget his troubles and get lost in the night sky.

The sapphire-eyed boy wiggled his way through the crowd toward the building with the blue roof. He allowed himself a grin of satisfaction as he pressed his way through the doors to the PokeMart, then trudged his way to the back of the store where he knew the healing items were shelved. He quickly grabbed a few Paralyze Heals and an Antidote to replenish his stock and then made his way over to the register.

"Evenin'!" the elderly lady at the register chirped, "haven't seen you around in a while. How've you been?"

He let a small smile creep across his face at the woman's genuine kindness. On his mental list of people who deserved his respect and admiration, this woman, Hilda, was definitely near the top.

"I've been managing," he politely replied.

"That's all anybody can ask for," she said, her eyes sparkling. "But you look like you're in a rush, so I won't hold you up."

With practiced expertise, she rapidly rung up the items he had brought over. "That'll be 600 poke."

He shuffled off his worn-down, navy backpack and pulled out the requested amount of change. After putting the items in his pack, he scurried over to the door and shot Hilda a well meaning wave.

"Take care of yourself, Ryan," She stated, worry eminent in her voice. He could merely muster a smile in response.

He pushed his way out into the outside world. The sun had just begun to reach the horizon, signaling dusk was rapidly approaching.

He thought of Hilda and, more specifically, her parting words. She had meant well, but she didn't know the half of it all…

He began to pick up his pace, when a very distracted and unorganized looking reporter shouldered his way in front of him. Slightly agitated by the man's insincerity, he took note of his features. He was very lanky, and had very defined cheekbones. He was the kind of person who looked familiar to you, even if you had never seen him before. After making a mental note of the reporter, he continued on his way. He was heading toward the outskirts of town where he would spend the night.

Destination in mind, he began to pick up his pace once again. Just then a very familiar voice cut through the roar of the crowd.

"Hey! Yeah, you! Ryan!"

He jerked his head around at the sound, only to see the very familiar face that accompanied the very familiar voice. The girl, Adrianna, he recalled, was about his age, if not a few months younger. She was a few inches shorter than him, and her dirty-blonde hair cascaded down from her head in bouncy waves. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a casual looking tee, with a beat-up old baseball cap resting backwards atop her head.

By the time she caught up to him, she was slightly out of breath, yet still managed to have her ever-present grin plastered on her face.

"Adrianna," he acknowledged her, trying not to show too much of a smile.

At about the age of eleven, he had been wandering the streets of Jubilife, when a young Adrianna had boldly approached him.

"You're a trainer, right?" she had asked him.

He had paused at the question. He had a Pokemon, the Absol that had saved his life, but he wasn't officially a trainer. Was he a trainer? It couldn't hurt to battle, right? After another moment of trepidation, he nodded affirmatively.

"Then we're going to battle."

It was clear she was a very new trainer, so he recognized that he could probably beat her.

That day, they battled. He had come out victorious.

"You're going to be my rival," she had loudly proclaimed to him after their battle, "and one day I will beat you."

He smiled despite himself— true to her word, she had remained his rival: at least in her own eyes. Every so often, they would run into each other and battle. She had still yet to come out victorious. After their battle, she would always give a spiel about how she would beat him one day, and then once she had calmed down, they would joke around for a while until they went their own separate ways.

The human contact kept him sane. Or at least sane enough. Where Hilda was near the top of his mental list of respectable and deserving people, Adrianna was absolutely number one.

"You know what happens next, right?" she asked.

"Do we really have to battle right here, right now?" he responded. Battling in the middle of the street often drew a crowd, which was something he generally tried to avoid.

"Yes," she stated plainly. He rolled his eyes at the slight annoyance, but he should have seen it coming. It was an unavoidable occurrence.

She pulled out one of the pokeballs that so gently rested on her waist and pressed the button directly in the middle. With a flash of light, a Flaaffy emerged, ready to fight.

"She finally evolved?" he asked, trying to stall the battle.

"Audrey, use Charge!"

Jolted into attention by the impending threat of an attack, he grabbed his sole pokeball and released his only Pokemon. After a moment, an Absol seemed to materialize from nothingness.

"She still your only Pokemon?" she asked cockily, "this should be easy then."

Unwilling to dignify her well-intentioned comment with a response, he took the time to launch an attack.

"Lisette, Bite!"

Adrianna let out a slight shriek in alarm. Once she had regained her composure, she commanded, "Dodge her."

Just barely skidding out of range of the Absol, the Flaaffy managed to avoid the impending attack.

Angered by the attempt, the Flaaffy took the initiative and began to charge an attack toward the opposing Pokemon. It then released a jolt of electricity toward the unready dark-type, landing with a sickening sizzle of energy.

Seemingly just a simple nuisance to the Absol, she turned to her master, waiting for a command.

"Lis, Pursuit," the dark-haired boy calmly ordered his Absol.

Lisette rapidly zig-zagged across the impromptu playing field, only to launch herself at the opposing electric-type.

In his peripheral vision, he witnessed Adrianna flinch at the move that had clearly hurt her Pokemon. That look of pain quickly turned to one of determination, a look that mirrored her Pokemon's, as she resolved to strike back even harder. He allowed a small smile to creep on to his face; Adrianna was the kind of trainer who felt what her Pokemon felt, be it pain or happiness, and was by their side through the thick and thin. She truly cared for her Pokemon and that was something he had come to respect about her.

By now a relatively large crowd of people had gathered to watch the battle. It wasn't uncommon for a match to break out on the street, and people made it a point to watch the process: especially new trainers. The young spectators stared in awe at the older trainers, silently vowing to become like them someday. He knew the feeling; he had been there once.

"Audrey, use Cotton Spore!" Adrianna commanded her Flaaffy.

Ryan's eyes opened wide, knowing all too well what the outcome of the battle would be if that attack landed.

"Dodge!" he desperately commanded his Pokemon, unwilling to see her get hurt. Lis delicately danced out of the way of the spores that were slowly descending from the sky, seemingly unaffected by them. He let out the breath he wasn't aware he was holding.

"Quick Attack."

Lis' eyes lit up at the command. She rapidly dashed down the center of the playing field and rammed headfirst into the Flaaffy, knocking it back several feet.

Seemingly dazed by the attack, he knew the Flaaffy was close to unconsciousness. Being an educated trainer, Adrianna noticed the same thing and called back her Audrey, unwilling to overexert her. Without waiting another moment, she pulled out her second and final pokeball and released her last Pokemon.

"You're up, Faith," Adrianna cooed as she released her Snorunt.

He scowled at the name; the sound of it just tasted bitter in his mouth—he didn't exactly have a love for ice-types.

The energetic little Pokemon bounced around the playing field, ready for a fight.

"Icy Wind!" Adrianna commanded, a hint of desperation in her voice.

Unable to dodge the attack in time, Lisette took the hit full force. As frost etched itself on the edges of her alabaster fur, she let out a slight shiver.

"Lis, Bite her!"

"Faith, Protect!"

He scowled at the implications of the command; it was clear she had a new strategy. She wasn't going to go down easily this time.

"Ice Fang!" she shouted, unable to contain the excitement that was edging into her voice.

Already slowed from the cold, Lis was unable to get out of range of the cone-shaped Pokemon that was barreling toward her. The Snorunt leapt upward, then came cascading down onto an unsuspecting Lisette and clamped onto her side. Lis let out a slight yelp and shook off the ice-type, but the damage had already been done.

This was a desperate situation, and a desperate situation called for a desperate solution. He scowled, not happy about putting his Pokemon into such a risky situation, but it had to be done. His pride couldn't let Adrianna win.

"Lis, use Razor Wind."

"Protect!"

He let a small smile creep across his face; his plan had worked. Adrianna hadn't known that Razor Wind was a two-turn attack— and that protect couldn't be used twice in a row.

Lis began charging energy for the powerful attack that was to follow. At the same time, Faith put up a small force field around herself as per her master's command. The Snorunt's turn now wasted, Lisette released a fierce barrage of razor sharp wind at her opponent. Unable to protect itself, the Snorunt could only sit patiently and wait for the inevitable. The attack sliced into her and knocked her back several feet, knocking her unconscious.

He let out a weak smile, still slightly nervous from the intense battle; he was victorious! He had a title to hold against her and he wasn't about to let it go that easily.

After returning her fallen Pokemon, Adrianna trotted over to him.

"Good battle," she said, disappointment eminent in her voice.

"Hey, you had me there for a while. I thought I was done for," He consoled her.

"Thanks," she smiled, then pulled him into a warm embrace. He hugged her back, not wanting to say anything to ruin the moment.

She pulled away then spoke, "But don't think this is over. I'll have you next time!"

He gave her a look that said, 'We'll see about that,' then turned around to head on his own way.

"Hey," she called back to him, "you know, you should probably leave this City eventually— there's a lot more in this world to see than litter and crowds of people." She then turned around, back on her way.

"You know… I think I will," he murmured, more to himself than anybody else.

Now that the action was over, the crowd began to disperse. Just as he was about to head on his way, a little boy, no older than six, ran up to him and stuttered, "W-w-when I'm older, I want to be j-just like you! I'm gonna h-have an Absol and everything!"

He smiled despite himself and he ruffled the child's hair. The boy had no idea what he was wishing for...

* * *

Author's Notes: If you've decided to click on my humble story, thank you very much! I just finished a Diamond play through and my outline, and I'm ready to write!

However, if you're deciding to join me for this journey, I give you fair warning:

1) This story is going to be one hell of a roller coaster ride. It will be long. It will be intense. It will be emotional. I am not afraid to tug at the heart strings. You have been warned.

2) I love constructive criticism. If you see a grammar error or a plot hole, please don't hesitate to tell me! Reviews make my day! ^^

3) However, If you give me a suggestion on changing the plot of my story in any way, I will read it, take it into account, and then promptly reject it. That's not to say I don't love seeing your predictions and what you would like to see in the next chapter (because I do love seeing that stuff). I just don't want anybody telling me how to write my story.

4) If you wanna talk, please, feel free to PM me. I would love to get more feedback or even just to talk. In the relatively near future, I will be looking for a Beta (I am by no means perfect; I make many grammatical errors.). If that sounds appealing to you, talk to me! I would love to have you Beta.

Also, let me know what vibes you picked up from Ryan. I was going for the relatable vibe. Let me know what you think of him :)

A/N: This is my third or fourth time editing this chapter. The most recent update was 11-4-13.

That is all. Thanks again for reading! I love you all. ^^


	2. The Higher You Are—

Disclaimer: No matter how much I hope and pray, I will still never own Pokemon.

* * *

Cassandra was a character.

"Vanna, use Absorb!" The Beautifly solemnly absorbed health from the Cranidos in a strange spectacle of green and yellow energy.

"They don't pay me enough for this," mumbled Roark under his breath, but it was lost on the young girl.

Over ecstatic that she was winning the battle, Cassandra pressed her advantage.

"Hit 'em with a Gust!" she cried.

Roark rolled his eyes. He knew he was supposed to throw battles, but this was his limit; this girl was using a flying and bug type Pokemon against a rock oriented gym. Granted, he was the first gym leader, but the challengers should have at least some glimmer of common sense! He swallowed his discontent and proceeded to try and make his loss look believable.

His Cranidos turned to look at him, curious to what his master's next command would be. Roark wordlessly communicated to his Pokemon his thoughts; the plan was that the Cranidos would take a few more hits then take the fall.

"Cranidos, use Rollout!" The Pokemon began slowly rolling toward the Beautifly levitating above him. The Beautifly easily twisted out of the way, avoiding the attack completely.

Growing ever more confident, Cassandra decided to attack once again. "Poison Sting!"

Roark resisted the urge to cry out in desperation; this battle needed to end now or he would lose it. He signaled to his Pokemon that this next attack should be the last one. Nodding in understanding, the Cranidos turned to face its opponent, awaiting the next attack.

"Vanna, use Tackle!"

A bug tackling the Head Butt Pokemon. _Brilliant_.

Questioning the reasoning behind its owner's command, the Beautifly flew in slowly and cautiously tossed its body weight at its much larger opponent. The Cranidos pretended to be knocked over and closed its eyes, feigning unconsciousness. He really needed to commend his Cranidos for its acting skills, Roark reminded himself.

Realizing, at least in her own mind, that she had just won the battle, a smug grin wormed its way onto her face childish face. She called back her Pokemon and trotted across the playing field over to her adversary.

"Looks like I have won," she stated plainly.

Roark looked the girl once over; she looked to be about eleven— either way, she had definitely just begun training. She had forest-green eyes, and blonde hair that was as straight as an arrow. She seemed to be slightly shorter than what was about average for her age, but for what she lacked in height, she made up for in ego; she had, on several different occasions, talked down to and attempted to patronize him. All in a matter of twenty minutes.

She had a pure white, floral-patterned headband holding her bangs back from her eyes. She donned a light, silvery sundress with fancy sandals to match. And last but not least, a large emerald necklace cascaded down from her neck, clinking with every movement. There was no doubt in his mind that she, or at least her family, had a lot of money: a fact that probably added to her enormous ego.

"Wait right here. I'll go get your stuff," he answered with a sigh. Before waiting for a response, he left the room to go grab the badge and the Technical Machine that came along with the 'win'.

After a moment, he returned to the girl and wordlessly handed her the objects. After noticing she was staring at it with a confused expression, he pointed to the TM and explained, "That is a Technical Machine. It teaches any Pokemon, assuming it is able to learn it, the move Stealth Rock. Be careful— you can only use it once." After a moment, realization dawned on the child's face.

After a long pause, the rock-type gym leader asked, "Where are you heading next?" Genuinely concerned for the novice's safety, he wanted to direct her in the correct general direction.

"I am not sure yet," she replied, a pseudo-sophisticated tone in her voice, "where might the next gym be?"

"It's in Eterna City," Roark explained, silently praying for Gardenia, "but you should stop by the Jubilife training school to learn a few things first." Desperately needing to learn the basics, he prayed that she would take to the idea.

"Oh, I get it; you want me to go show off my skills to the other trainers," she managed with a smile. Roark sighed; there was that shameless hubris again.

"So… how might I get to Jubilife?"

"Through Oreburgh Gate on the western side of the City. There's a huge sign; you can't miss it," he told her exasperatedly.

"Just… watch yourself. Please," the man pleaded.

Without another word, Cassandra whipped around and stormed out of the gym, pushing into the cool, open air of Oreburgh.

Yes, Cassandra was definitely a character.

* * *

Cassandra skipped past row after row of houses, Pokemon Center her destination in mind.

Roark was _too_ easy. But it was only natural that someone so powerful and knowledgeable as her defeat a meager gym leader.

"He never even stood a chance," she mumbled to herself proudly.

"Mommy and Daddy would be so proud of me…" she stopped in her tracks. No, they wouldn't. They hardly noticed her as it was, and now that Daddy's company was doing that big merger thingy with that other company, he and Mommy were noticing her even less than usual.

Sadness turning her recent victory bittersweet, she continued walking along, albeit much more slowly than before.

"Daddy has never cared…"

Eventually, even at her slowed pace, she reached the Pokemon Center. She trudged through the entrance and into the spacious room.

"Good Afternoon Madam, welcome to the Pokemon Center! How may I assist you?" chirped Nurse Joy.

Cassandra wordlessly wandered up to the counter and placed her two pokeballs down in front of Nurse Joy.

"Oh…" stammered Nurse Joy, momentarily confused by the sad young girl in front of her, only to regain her composure quickly afterward. "Okay!"

Nurse Joy carefully picked up the pokeballs and brought them over to the machine in the back. After placing the pokeballs on the machine for a minute, the screen light pulsed twice, notifying her that the Pokemon were done healing. She picked up the pokeballs and walked back over to the young girl.

"And… here you go!" she spoke to the girl joyously. "And what might your name be miss?"

"...Cassandra…"

"That's a very beautiful name."

A small smile began to emerge on the young girl's face.

Not willing to let the girl revert back to her somber state, she continued, "And those look like some wonderful Pokemon you have there."

The small grin on her face erupted into a full blown smile.

"Y-yes. I have a Beautifly named Vanna and a Vulpix named Sassy," explained Cassandra, content to talk about her pride and joy— her Pokemon. They were the only things that she truly cared about, and knew that in turn, they truly cared about her back. She loved them with everything she had, and would never hesitate to showcase their immense capabilities.

After eliciting a small giggle at the childish names Cassandra had given her Pokemon, Nurse Joy questioned further, "Have you challenged the gym yet?"

"Actually, yes."

"How'd it go?" asked Nurse Joy innocuously.

"I won."

"Really?!" stated Nurse Joy, surprised to see that a loss at the gym wasn't the root of her somber attitude. "That is fantastic!"

Nurse Joy's happiness was contagious, as Cassandra found herself smiling and giggling along with her.

"So do you live around here?" inquired the older woman good-heartedly.

"Uh, well, um, kinda?" stammered the younger girl nervously.

"... Oh?"

"Well… uh… yes I live near here. I just live on the other side of Oreburgh," she stammered again, scrambling for a response.

"Oh, okay." Nurse Joy resolved to drop the subject. "Well I'm sure your parents will be ecstatic for you when they find out you got your first badge. I know I am." Cassandra tried her best to hold her smile.

Nurse Joy walked out from behind the counter, bent down, and wrapped Cassandra in a warm embrace. "Good luck. Don't hesitate to come and get me if you ever need anything," she whispered into the child's ear.

And with that, the younger girl pulled away and shot Nurse Joy a thankful smile before skipping out of the Pokemon Center.

Nurse Joy sighed to herself. "Kids these days are awfully strange…"

* * *

Hopped up on her gym-battle high and now reverted back to her old self, Cassandra hopped along the dirt road, dreams of becoming the Pokemon Champion running rampant throughout her mind. Unable to keep her giddiness to herself, she released her Pokemon: Vanna the Beautifly and Sassy the Vulpix.

"Guys, I can't believe we just won our first gym battle! We're going to go on and beat all of the eight gym leaders and challenge the elite four and win and then beat the Champion and then I'll become the bestest Pokemon trainer in the whole world and you guys will be the bestest Pokemon in the world and everybody will look up to us and love us and Daddy will finally notice me…" She paused to take a breath from her non-stop rambling.

The Beautifly, Vanna, was content to rest atop Cassandra's head and hum along to her own little tune whilst listening to Cassie talk.

The Vulpix, Sassy, would sprint twenty feet ahead of Cassie, only to sit there and wait for her to catch up, and then repeat the process again. Constantly turning around to make sure her trainer was safe, she remained unnecessarily vigilant.

"I am so excited!" Cassandra screamed, releasing some of her pent up energy.

Dusk began to cascade over the city. It went completely unnoticed by the giddy trio.

"And the next gym is in Eterna," Cassie informed her Pokemon, "which I think I remember Mommy saying is a grass gym. Sassy, that means it's going to be all up to you." Thrilled to be contributing to the team, Sassy bounced up and down and cantered along with her trainer, content to listen to her trail on.

"What way did the gym leader say to go?" Cassie wondered to herself, trying to recall his words. They definitely weren't very complicated directions.

With a sudden jolt of realization, she recalled, "Oh yeah! That was it! He said to go to the Oreburgh gate on the… the west side of the city? Yeah, the west side of Oreburgh. Then we go through Oreburgh Gate and then on to Jubilife City." She smiled. "And when were in Jubilife, Roark said to stop by the Trainer's School, so I can show you guys off to the other trainers."

Sassy panted contentedly. Cassie bent down to rub her Pokemon's head, when she tackled her master, pushing her off balance; Cassie was knocked onto her back as Sassy climbed on top of her and began to lick her face. Erupting into a fit of giggles, Cassie was unable to push her Pokemon off— not that she wanted to. Not wanting to be left out of the fun and games, Vanna perched herself on Cassie's stomach next to the Vulpix and began astutely humming her tune once again.

"I love you guys," breathed Cassie once she had regained her composure.

And in all their laughing and giggling, they didn't even notice the ominous storm clouds beginning to roll in overhead.

The sky growing ever darker, they picked themselves up and continued walking westward toward Oreburgh Gate.

Eventually reaching their destination, Cassie trotted up to the sign and read aloud, "Oreburgh Gate: west to Route 203 and Jubilife. Looks like this is where we're headed."

Looking at both her Pokemon in turn, she told them cheerily, "Well the sooner we head out, the sooner we get to Jubilife!"

And without another word, they wandered into the cavernous opening, throwing all caution to the wind.

* * *

Author's Note: Phew! Another chapter completed! Right about now, I'm still running on that beginning part of the story when you get super excited and can't wait to post the next chapter. Pretty much, what this means is that I'm not sure that updates will always be this fast (but we can all still hope!).

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry if it was a little bit short and kinda filler-ish, but I don't want to rush any character introductions. I tried to leave you with a little bit of a cliff-hanger thing to show that there will be action to come.

As always, please let me know what you thought! I love insight into my writing!

Until next time, peace. ^^


	3. —The Harder You Fall

Disclaimer: I own Pokemon. Just kidding.

That night, Ryan told the few people who he had grown close to goodbye, and then packed up his meager belongings in preparation for his departure the next morning. In his beat-up, old, navy-blue backpack sat an extra shirt and a pair of pants, a pocket knife, and his prized possession: his vintage old radio.

The radio was rectangular, about six inches wide and ten inches tall, and had a huge antenna jutting out of the top. The radio wasn't much; it was cheap and old, but it got the job done. However, that's not what made it special. What made it special was that it was the first thing he had owned that was truly his. He had bought it with money had earned himself from training, and he listened to it every night, never failing to appreciate everything it had given him.

Ryan had resolved that he would leave Jubilife that night for easier travel. The less people the better, as anybody with common sense would be in their beds sleeping at night— and he had neither of those things: a bed nor common sense.

As he pushed his way down the derelict streets of Jubilife, he looked up at the night sky above him. The open air was quickly becoming densely populated by ominous looking storm clouds, hiding the stars in the sky that he loved so much. The storm clouds promising rain, Ryan decided that he would travel quickly to avoid being stuck out in the storm.

Placing one foot in front other, he quickened his pace, the early October wind sending a chill down his spine. As he marched along, thoughts of his conversation with Adrianna dominated his mind.

"You know," her voice reverberated in his head, "you should probably leave this City eventually- there's a lot more in this world to see than litter and crowds of people."

She could not have been more right. He had bad memories in Jubilife; Jubilife tied him down, rendered him unable to make a name for himself. Now he finally had another chance to become somebody new; in the training world, nobody judged. It would be dangerous, he knew, but it would unequivocally be worth it in the end.

His thoughts slowly transitioned to his one and only Pokemon: Lisette the Absol. A small smile wormed its way onto his face. She was his pride and joy, and he would do anything for her, just as he knew she would do anything for him. She had saved his life, and he was forever indebted to her. However… having only one Pokemon, at least in the training world, was definitely a bad thing. One opponent who had a type advantage and you were done for. He figured he should get another Pokemon to compensate for those disadvantages, but he would feel as if he was telling Lis she wasn't good enough… which could not have been farther off.

As he reached the gates of Jubilife, he stared out into the grassy fields of Route 203. A gentle smile graced his mouth; this was it. This was the beginning. The beginning of an era, something that would undoubtedly be great. No— legendary even. It would be perfect.

And as he took his first steps into freedom, a loud thunderclap shattered the silence of the peaceful autumn night.

* * *

Cassie haphazardly pranced into Oreburgh Gate, her Pokemon following closely behind. Just as she took her first steps forward, an enormous thunderclap reverberated through the cave, causing Cassie to jump.

She looked back out of the entrance and mumbled to herself, "Good thing I'm in here…"

Ignoring the shiver that ran down her spine, she pressed forward into the darkness of the cave. "Hey, Sassy," she spoke to her Vulpix, "You mind lighting up this place? It's kinda creepy in the dark…" she trailed off.

Happy to oblige her trainer, Sassy produced a small flame that followed them through the never ending cave. The light appeasing her worrisome thoughts, her mind transitioned to happier things— like the gym battle they had just won!

It was hopeless to hold it back, so she allowed the smile to erupt on her face. One badge down, seven to go! How much was that… 12.5 percent done? She smiled once again, happy that she was able to figure out the math problem. Her personal tutor at home had just taught her how to…

Home. Her personal tutor, at home. She grimaced, unwilling to think about everything she had just left behind.

She forced herself to talk to her Pokemon to avoid thinking about it. "So after Gardenia, which should be a breeze for you Sass, is Maylene, the… fighting gym leader?" she wondered aloud. Maylene shouldn't be too much of a problem; after all, she had just taken out Roark with ease.

Masked in her thoughts, Cassie was unknowingly taking wrong turns left and right, sending her deeper and deeper into the dimly lit cave.

"Then comes… Crasher Wake, the water gym leader," she shuddered as she spoke his name. It wasn't so much that she was worried about the gym itself, it was more that Wake was the man of her nightmares… He was huge and intimidating, and he never ceased to scare the living daylight out of her.

"Then… a ghost or steel gym comes next? Maybe it was ice. Something like that. I can't remember." The one thing she did remember was the final gym leader; Volkner. Her heart fluttered at the mention of his name. She would never admit this to anybody, but ever since she was little and saw him on the television, she had been infatuated with him. He was everything she ever wanted, not to mention that he was really handsome too. Her face flushed.

"And after all of the gyms comes the elite four and the champion." The elite four were shrouded in mystery. They were definitely household names, but their mannerisms and ideals were not so well known. The only time the public got to see them was when the TV showed little tidbits of battles of the most recent elite four challengers. But there was one person everybody did know: Cynthia. She was beautiful, sincere, and powerful to top it all of. Cynthia was her idol, and Cassie had already decided that one day, somehow, she would surpass Cynthia and become the next champion.

It wasn't a question.

Awakened from her thoughts, Cassandra took in her surroundings. She was in a large cavernous opening, easily twice the size of a football field. In the middle sat a pond; no, a pond was an understatement. In the middle sat a lake filled with crystal blue water. It was a gorgeous scene, and Cassie would have loved to stay in this place for a little while, had she known where the heck she was. She looked around and noted that the only entrance or exit to this place was where she had just come in. A dead end? Had she taken a wrong turn?

Frustrated with her lack of directional skills, she let out a guttural scream. "Where am I!" she screeched. Her Pokemon, worried about their trainer, scurried over to her to calm her down. She plopped down on to her bottom and sat there pouting, blatantly ignoring her Pokemon's attempts to cheer her up. "This is so not fair…"

Just then the crystal waters of the lake began to ripple seemingly for no reason. Curiosity piqued, Cassie jumped up onto the tips of her toes to try and get a better look. After a moment of silence, a huge, blue, dragon-like Pokemon erupted from the water and reared its ugly head. The Gyarados quickly flew over to her, ready to attack the trespasser.

Cassie let out a much louder and longer scream, praying for her life.

* * *

Ryan slowly jogged up to the entrance to the cave that was Oreburgh Gate. Dripping wet and cold, he sized up his options: continue on through the cave at night, which was extremely dangerous, or stay out in the cold, wet rain that was powerfully plummeting down from the skies above.

As it it were even a question.

He stepped into the cave and paused for a moment. He could sleep right there at the entrance to the cave, where it was dry and somewhat less dangerous. Debating his options once again, he stood there until deciding upon continuing on the path to Oreburgh. Releasing his Absol for extra protection, he moved forward cautiously— until he heard a bloodcurdling scream echo throughout the cave.

This time acting without thinking, he began sprinting in the direction of the scream. His Pokemon's thoughts mirroring his own, she ran ahead of him, leading the way with her ability to see in the dark.

Who in their right mind, beside himself, would be that deep in this cave alone at night? It was simply moronic. There was no doubt in his mind that somebody was in a very precarious situation, and he was going to do anything in his power to help them out.

Out of breath, he eventually reached a wide cavern. The large room had many stalagmites and stalactites scattered about, and a huge body of water planted directly in the middle— but that wasn't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the oversized Gyarados readying itself to attack a helpless little girl.

He froze, trying to decipher the situation laid out before him. Gyarados were very easily aggravated, so it was likely the girl startled it into attacking. That brought him to his next question; what in the name of all things holy was that little girl doing down here?!

He would have time to figure out the girl's logic later; right now, he had so save somebody's life. Or die trying.

The Gyarados was currently circling its to-be prey. Lisette, always on the same page as her trainer, knew immediately what they were about to do. Readying herself for action, she silently slinked over to her adversary. Meanwhile, Ryan was trying to carefully approach the hysterical girl. Just then, the Absol lunged at the water-type, catching it off guard. Knowing he only had a small amount of time to act, he grabbed the girl, tossed her over his shoulder, and ran for the safety of the smaller passages of the cave.

As they were running, he looked back over his shoulder to see how Lis was faring. She and the Gyarados were at odds with each other, both ready to attack the other. He turned to face forward, unwilling to see more, just as he heard a growl and a shriek. He didn't even want to know which Pokemon had made it.

Once he reached their destination, he carefully placed the speechless girl onto the ground. Sizing her up, he took in her features: she could not have been older than eleven. She had fancy, albeit dirty, clothes on. She seemed very out of place in this setting; she seemed more like the pampered school-girl type than the outdoorsy trainer type.

Once she had regained her ability to speak, she mumbled, "M-my P-p-pokemon…"

Letting out a sigh, he turned to re-enter the cavern in search of her Pokemon. After a moment of searching, he located them: a Beautifly and a Vulpix. They were doing their best to help out his Absol in the fight, but it was clear they were far outmatched. He ran into the scene, figuring speed would be more effective than staying hidden.

He very carefully approached the Vulpix and picked her up, and signaled for the Beautifly to follow suit. Understanding the gravity of the situation, it followed them across the cavern to the passage where their trainer was lying.

Before they could make it there in time, the Gyarados swooped down in front of them, its face just inches from Ryan's. Growling loudly, it pushed him back against the wall like they helpless human he was. The water-type opened its mouth in an effort to shoot a powerful beam of water at him. Just as he was sure death was imminent, he heard a roar from behind the Pokemon. There stood his Absol, poised to launch herself at her enemy— and she did just that. The dark-type pounced on her infinitely larger adversary and bit down hard, earning a flinch from the Gyarados.

Given the momentary lapse of attention, Ryan made a bolt for the passage. Once he was sure that all three of the others were safe, he charged back out into the open, ready to lead his Pokemon in battle.

It was clear that Lisette was struggling— and rightly so, considering her opponent. She was slowing down, but still managing to avoid the larger and bulkier Pokemon. The Gyarados was rapidly firing Hydro Pumps in succession at the Absol; she wouldn't be able to evade all of the attacks for much longer. Because she was constantly avoiding its attacks, she was unable to retaliate with any of her own. This battle was rapidly spiraling downward, with his hope of winning very minimal.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to find any weaknesses he could exploit. It was much bigger than Lis and could easily handle any physical attacks she could throw at it. Despite its size, it was still relatively fast, so speed wouldn't pose much of an advantage. Gyarados were water and flying types, he recalled. That would mean they were extremely susceptible to electric attacks. A small grin etched itself across his face as the beginnings a of a plan began to form in his mind.

"Lis, keep dodging its attacks!" he shouted to his Pokemon, "I'll try and distract it to give you a opening!"

Swallowing any pride he had left, he ran into the direct path of the raging Gyarados. "Hey! Yeah you, you glorified worm!" That final comment grabbed its attention.

"You're weak and tiny! There is no way you could ever win!" Letting out a low growl, it changed its course, now heading towards him.

His voice etched with fear, he yelled, "Lis, now! Use Charge Beam!" Yet again, he found himself eternally grateful for the TM he had bought his Pokemon. About a year ago, he decided that dark and normal type moves wouldn't be enough in battle, so he saved up every little bit of change he could get his hands on. It took all of the money he had, but he managed to buy Charge Beam. Although Lis was able to learn it, it still wasn't her natural type, so it rapidly drained her energy the more she used it; that is why it was a last resort. It was designated for situations exactly like this one.

Lis paused to charge up energy. Once she deemed herself ready enough, she let the fine beam of electric energy loose at the Gyarados.

The Gyarados took the hit head on. Clearly weakened by the powerful attack, it began to tremble and shudder. A glimmer of hope in his eyes, he signaled for his Pokemon to try again. Lisette began slowly charging energy once again, but she never got the chance to launch the attack.

Time seemed to freeze as the Gyarados launched a final Hydro Pump straight at Lis. It hit her straight on, and knocked her violently back into the wall ten yards behind her with a sickening thud.

He aggressively shook his head, unwilling to believe his eyes. No. This was not happening. Not to his Lis. This could not be happening.

The Gyarados turned to face its lone prey, a devilish grin pressed on its face. Resigned to his fate, he stood there awaiting an attack that would never come.

Stumbling to her feet, Lis slowly began to charge the attack once again. Unwilling to let her trainer die like this, she let loose a weak Charge Beam at her adversary. The attack flying true, it hit the Gyarados just below the head with a sparkling sizzle.

The Gyarados went down. Unable to sustain its own weight, it fell to the floor, beaten and unconscious.

Just then, Lis crumpled and fell to the floor, bruised and broken. With a weak smile present upon her face, she gently slipped into unconsciousness.

The Gyarados no longer a problem, he rushed over to his Pokemon. He threw himself onto his knees before his Absol, and gently rested his head upon her chest. As he gently whispered to his Pokemon, a single tear rolled down his cheek.

After a few minutes, he regained his composure, returned Lis to her pokeball, and turned to face the exit to the cavern, where a wide-eyed girl was staring in shock at everything that she had just witnessed.

He walked over to her, then took her Pokemon and returned them to their respective pokeballs, threw the girl over his shoulder once again, and ran like hell back to the Jubilife Pokemon Center.

* * *

Author's Note: Today marks the end of the cross country season as I ran at state championships this morning. Now that I won't be staying after school till 5:30 every day, I should be able to write more often. Hooray! (Although I am still disappointed that the cross country season is over).

Please let me know what you guys thought of this chapter! This is my first time doing any legitimate suspense or action in a story, and I would love to know how I did with it. Too overdramatic? Not dramatic enough?

Throughout my time on this site, I feel as if I have been steadily improving. I've made mistakes and learned from them to become better. I learn new things every day from those more experienced than I, and I refuse to take something like that for granted. There are plenty of you out there whose advice I would greatly benefit to have, so please don't hesitate to help out!

Also, let me know what you guys think is an appropriate chapter length. I like to try and keep em between 2k and 5k words, but what I think isn't necessarily what readers think.

Thanks again for reading! You all are the best. ^^


	4. Of New Beginnings

Disclaimer: Do I even have to say it?

* * *

Nurse Joy was sitting in the Pokemon Center reading her Gossip Glameow magazine, completely and fully expecting an uneventful night shift. Boy was she wrong.

At approximately 11:30 p.m., a teenage boy stormed through the doors carrying a scared little girl. He had an urgent aura about him, so Nurse Joy knew immediately that something serious had happened. The boy placed the girl down in one of the chairs in the waiting area, then ran over to her.

Once the boy regained his breath, he stammered, "Pokemon… injured." The boy then unceremoniously slammed three pokeballs down on the counter, pushing one out in front of the other two. "This one," he gestured to the pokeball in front, "is mine. She was badly injured. The other two are the girl's, and are healthy, if only a little scratched up."

Nodding in affirmation, Nurse Joy gathered up all three pokeballs and headed into the back room to do her job. After exhaling loudly in relief, the boy turned around to look at the person whose life he had just saved.

The girl looked like hell. She was clearly traumatized by the experience she had just gone through, and would likely be that way for a long time. He… he had been through tough situations before; he knew how to let it slide off of his shoulders, but she didn't. Sitting there wide-eyed and horrified, he sympathized with her— he had been where she was right now.

Without making eye contact, she murmured, ""I-I-I I'm sorry." Cassandra had never felt true remorse before, but if she had, this would be it. "It's my fault your Pokemon got hurt so badly and… I'm sorry," she finished lamely.

He allowed a small smile. "It's fine, don't worry. So what exactly were you doing out in Oreburgh Gate alone so late at night?" His tone sounded more that of a concerned father rather than an inquisitive stranger.

Cassie swallowed the lump in her throat. "Well… you see… I just started training, and I was leaving the Oreburgh Gym and I wanted to get to Jubilife faster so I…" she trailed off into silence.

He chuckled at the girl's insolence. He supposed he didn't really have a right to ridicule her for her decision, since he had made the same exact one himself, but that still didn't explain how she had gotten so deep into the cave, let alone angered the Gyarados.

He sat there patiently waiting for her to continue. After realizing he wanted more of an explanation, she looked up at him then continued, "I took a few wrong turns because I wasn't paying attention, and I got lost." She diverted her gaze down to the floor as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world.

"And the Gyarados?"

Her face flushed, embarrassed by her mistake. "Well… I was frustrated that I was lost, so I yelled and…"

He nodded in understanding, then moved to go sit down next to her. If they were both going to be stuck here all night, he might as well make himself comfortable.

After several minutes of companionable silence, the girl whispered, "Cassandra."

After a look of confusion from her savior, she corrected herself, "My name; it's Cassandra."

He looked her over once again. She definitely looked like a Cassandra: spoiled and arrogant, but still very motivated.

"No it's not," he told her. She looked back up at him curiously. "Your name; it's not Cassandra." Utterly confused, she turned all of the way around to face him, patiently awaiting an explanation.

"From now on, I'm calling you Princess." He decided it fit her personality, and now that it was solidified in his mind, there was no turning back.

Extremely offended, Cassie scoffed, "I am not a princess! I'm tough, and one day I will become the Pokemon Champion!"

"Whatever you say… Princess."

Her face contorting into a pout, she folded her arms over her chest. He let out a laugh: something he hadn't done in years.

He liked this girl. She had a fire in her eyes, a determination that burned as bright as the sun. In her, he saw himself. However, right about now, she looked horrified and frustrated by her newly appointed, and apparently offensive, nickname.

"Hey, what's fair is fair," he decided to break the silence, "since I gave you a nickname, you get to give me one too."

She looked up at him thoughtfully, then asked, "Well… what is your name in the first place?"

"Ryan." He liked the name he had appointed himself about a year ago. It was mundane sounding, and that was something he had always wanted to be: normal. Ever since then, it just sort of stuck.

"Ryan…" Cassie whispered, likely without even realizing it.

She sat there in silence, attempting to come up with a nickname. After a while, she disappointedly spoke, "I… I can't think of one."

"You can reserve the right to give a nickname later on then." He regretted the words immediately after he spoke them. What he had said implicated that she would be with him for awhile, or at least long enough to give him a nickname, and that was something he did not want. He didn't want to be dragged down, or even to drag her down: he was a recluse, and he knew it. He was fine with human contact when need be, but ordinarily he preferred to be alone. Not to mention his horrible luck…

But that was ordinarily, and this situation was anything but ordinary. He was sitting in the Jubilife Pokemon Center at close to midnight next to a girl who's life he had just saved. This was by no means normal.

He looked over at the girl; she seemed content enough, now that she was out of immediate danger. He felt a connection with her, and was happy to talk with her, but still…

No. He wouldn't travel with her, and that was final.

After enjoying the companionable silence for a moment longer, he questioned, "How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Where are you from?"

"…Jubilife…"

He looked at her curiously, then pressed further, "Who are your parents? Maybe I know them." He knew he would not have known her parents, but the information may help him gather more information about the girl.

"My daddy is Richard Press, the CEO of the Poketch Company."

Ryan jerked forward in surprise. Richard Press, the CEO of Poketch! He was one of the richest men in the world, let alone Sinnoh!

"Daddy's company just had some huge merger with that poffin company… I forget what it's called though," she added on.

"Bellossom's Bakers?"

"Yeah!" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but… if you're father has that kind of money, what exactly are you doing out here in the real world training?" Training was typically a 'profession' for the children of middle class families: it was respected, and provided a sense of adventure— which is what most people who became trainers craved. But the children of upper class families often grew up and to school and then college to become doctors, lawyers, or politicians. Not trainers.

"Um… well… I just wanted to try it out," she finished lamely. It was obvious that she was lying, but he resolved to let sleeping dogs lie. He quickly changed the subject.

"So you got your first gym badge?" He had gathered as much from what she had told him earlier.

"Actually, yeah! I beat Roark earlier today. Err, yesterday now," she added, after noticing the time was now after midnight.

Just then, Nurse Joy emerged from the back room, hair a mess and a tired look in her eyes. A lump quickly began to form in Ryan's throat. Was Lis okay? Would she be able to travel? If she was badly injured, there was no way he was leaving Jubilife. Not with his one and only Pokemon hurt.

After heaving a great sigh, she spoke, "Your Absol sure took a beating; I'm not even going to ask what happened. She will have a lot of bruises and scrapes, and a tiny fracture in her front left leg, but other than that she is stable." He exhaled a sigh of relief. At least she was okay; that was all that mattered.

"Thank you."

A genuine smile appeared on her face, glad to see how much he cared about his Pokemon.

"Um, excuse me Miss? How are my Pokemon?" Cassie asked as innocently as she could possibly muster.

Looking down at the little girl, Nurse Joy smiled then responded, "They are perfectly fine. They're just sleeping in the back room right now; you two should probably get some sleep also. It's getting late.

Immediately after Nurse Joy told them that, Cassie let out a great yawn, eliciting a giggle from the two others present.

Cassie then turned to her side on the chair, readying herself to go to sleep.

"Goodnight, Princess."

"Goodnight, Ryan."

Ryan gently closed his eyes, knowing all too well that he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

* * *

Nurse Joy Gently roused Cassie from her sleep. Cassie groggily pulled herself up onto her feet, rubbed her eyes, and stretched. Once she deemed herself awake enough, she took in her surroundings: the yellow tiled floors, the deep-red curtains cascading down from the windows— and Nurse Joy standing in directly in front of her.

Nurse Joy was holding out Cassie's pokeballs, and she took them back into her hands graciously. After thanking her profusely for helping out her Pokemon, she inquired, "Where is Ryan?"

"You mean the boy who came here with you?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Yes."

"He went out for a walk an hour or so ago. He should be back soon," she assured the younger girl. Cassie looked up at the clock; it read 10:42 a.m.— she had been asleep for almost eleven hours! She hadn't sleep that long in years!

As if on cue, Ryan pushed back into the Pokemon Center.

"Ah, so the Princess finally finally awakens!" he stated with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Cassie scowled in response.

Ryan felt extremely uncomfortable; he wanted to tell her goodbye before he left, but he knew she would resist him leaving.

"I have to be on my way… but I wanted to tell you goodbye first."

She seemed completely unfazed.

"Okay," she responded. He was actually pretty proud of her; she had taken it much better than he had expected her to.

"But I'm coming with you." There goes that.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come with me," he pleaded.

"Why not?" He paused at her question. He didn't exactly have a valid reason to not let her accompany him… or at least a reason she would like to hear.

"Because." He knew it sounded lame, but it had to be done. He didn't want to have to watch over a little girl; he couldn't handle that much pressure.

"Okay, then I'm just going to follow you. You can't make me not go somewhere." She was right; he couldn't make her do anything. She sure was stubborn, and she knew how to get what she wanted. At least he could watch over her to make sure she doesn't get hurt again, even if she would be a lot to handle.

After realizing Ryan was left without a response, she smiled in victory. Cassie always got what she wanted one way or another.

"We're going to battle," she told him. She wasn't asking.

"No way." There was absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt, no way that he would battle a little girl. He just couldn't.

"My Pokemon is injured," he frantically scrambled for an excuse.

"No, she's fine," Nurse Joy piped up from behind her counter, "Pokemon are very fast healers, and it was a very minimal fracture anyways." If looks could kill, Nurse Joy would be dead.

"We're going to battle," Cassie reiterated.

"I don't want to hurt your Pokemon," he told her truthfully. He was older and therefore much stronger, and didn't want to crush this girl's dreams at such a young age.

She looked extremely offended by his remark. "I can beat you any day!" she rebutted.

He sighed in exasperation. "Fine, but we're going to make this quick." Cassie happily skipped outside, delighted to have her way yet again. They made their way over to the grassy fields nearby on Route 203 for their battle. Battling someone so much younger than him was one thing, but if a crowd gathered to watch him pummel her, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

He took in his surroundings; there was tall grass growing all about, and several smallish pine trees interspersed throughout their impromptu playing field. There was nothing extremely outstanding about it, but he could probably still work it to his advantage.

"Go Sassy!" He raised his eyebrow at the unfortunate name of her Pokemon. Sassy? She was going to regret naming her that later on.

Ryan wordlessly released his Absol in a blinding flash of light. The two enemy Pokemon sized each other up. After a minute of staring at the opposing Vulpix, Lis turned to look at him quizzically, to which he replied with a simple shrug.

"Sassy, use Will-o-wisp!"

Lis delicately twirled out of the way of the sinister flame, seemingly effortlessly.

Frustrated that her first attack had missed, she tried again. "Ember!"

The small flame soared true and hit the dark-type directly on her side, Lis making no effort to dodge it. It left a small singe mark, but other than that, the Absol looked relatively unaffected.

Growing more and more angry, she tried once more. "Sassy, Confuse Ray!" By this point, she was just firing any attack she could think of in a desperate attempt to hit him: bad idea. He had at least figured she had some basis of how to battle, but he wouldn't have even fathomed that she was this uneducated; you need a strategy to battle!

It was clear she and her Pokemon were already close, but they needed to form more of a mental bond. A Pokemon and their trainer needed to think alike in order to be victorious in a battle; the transfer of thoughts and feelings between the two was crucial, no matter who or what they were battling. A trainer without his or her Pokemon is nothing, and a Pokemon without his or her trainer is nothing as well; they need each other.

Several small orbs of light danced their way over to Lis and swirled rapidly around her head in an attempt to dizzy her. Lis simply ignored them. Confuse Ray was a powerful attack when used by the right Pokemon— but Sassy wasn't the right Pokemon.

"Tackle!" she desperately commanded. He nearly gasped aloud in shock; It was never a good move to tackle a Pokemon more than twice your size; it simply could not end well!

Lis sidestepped the smaller fox-like Pokemon, seemingly bored with the battle playing out before her.

"Lis," he commanded his Absol, "Double Team." Lisette's form seemed to rapidly duplicate itself, not stopping until there were no less than twenty Absols dispersed throughout out the playing field. The Vulpix jerked around, never knowing which way to look.

"Quick Attack," he stated levelly. He knew all of the clones would follow his command, but because they were just replicas, their attack wouldn't do nearly as much damage as the real one; the real purpose of the move was to scare Cassie. Maybe, just maybe, a pretentious display of skill would intimidate her enough that she would not request another battle in the future. Maybe.

All of the Absols in turn charged at the horrified Vulpix. Taking hit after hit, the Vulpix was knocked back off of her feet, until only one Absol remained. Sassy looked about ready to give in; she definitely would not be able to handle another attack, let alone be able to use one of her own.

Trying to be sensible, Ryan suggested, "You should probably call back your Vulpix. You don't want her to get hurt."

Albeit angrily, Cassie called back her Pokemon. Without hesitation, she sent out her next and final Pokemon. The Beautifly materialized from thin air.

Ryan slowly took in the situation. Knowing that Beautifly, contrary to popular belief, were fairly adept flyers, he knew he wouldn't be able to hit her with any physical attacks. That left very few options open for him, when taking into consideration that he didn't want to hurt her Pokemon too badly.

Before he could command his Absol anything, Cassandra's yell pierced the momentary silence, "Vanna, fly way up high! Make sure you're out of reach of the Absol!" He let out a small smile; now she was thinking. Even though this would complicate things for him in the end, he was glad she had realized her mistake from before.

"Vanna, use Absorb!" Immediately sensing her tactic, he realized there was a problem. He didn't want to hurt the Beautifly too badly, so that ruled out a lot of Lis' attacks. Then Absorb posed a problem for him; if he hit her with what small attacks he did have, she would easily regain the health she had lost.

He resolved to end it as quickly as possible. "Lis, hit 'em with a small Razor Wind." Nodding in affirmation, Lis began preparing to launch a sharp wind at her foe.

"Vanna, Absorb again!" Simply allowing the attack to hit her, Lis continued storing energy. After another moment had passed, she released a powerful whirlwind at her avian adversary, knocking it out of the skies. Vanna fluttered to the ground, completely and utterly defeated. Recognizing defeat when she saw it, Cassie called back her fallen Pokemon.

Cassie angrily stormed across the playing field toward Ryan.

"How did you get so good?" she inquired. It was clear she was very frustrated by her loss, as she had thought herself infallible, but she was also very impressed by Ryan's prowess.

"I'm older than you are, so I've had more time to train," he stated simply, "I'm sure by the time you're my age, you will be much better than I am."

"You're supposed to train?" Ryan nearly face palmed at her question. A trainer wasn't called a trainer for no reason!

Instead of telling her this, he plainly responded, "Yes."

Feeling bad about her loss, he continued, "I can help you train if you want–"

"Miss Cassandra Press!" A loud and deep unknown voice resonated throughout the area, slightly angry.

Cassie whipped her head around to see the new arrival, a look of horror plastered on her face.

The man quickly jogged over to where they were standing. He was very big and very muscular; he was definitely a guy who could kick some ass when the occasion called for it.

"Cassie? Who is your friend?" Ryan asked her.

"I," the man began, "am Liam Ronnex. I am Cassandra's family bodyguard. I am here to take her back to home. She ran away yesterday morning, and I've been looking for her ever since."

* * *

Author's Note: DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Epic reveal, right? Yeah, I know it wasn't… I hinted at it a lot…

Barely a week since the first chapter was published, and I'm already posting chapter 4! I'm surprised at how quickly this story is writing itself.

Anyways, if you've made it this far, thank you for reading. Reviews are much appreciated!

Until next time (which will probably be pretty soon), peace out. ^^


	5. Never Got the Chance

Disclaimer: Owned by me, Pokemon is not.

Notice: In case you guys haven't noticed, I changed the name and cover photo of the story (it is now Aphelion instead of Rubble). This is merely a creative decision on my part, and an it changes absolutely nothing of the actual plot. The new title will make much more sense than the old one later on. Sorry to bother you guys; I usually try to put these updates at the end of the chapter, but I figured this was kind of important.

* * *

"Wait, can you explain that to me again?" Ryan asked. This was easily the third time the bodyguard had tried to explain it to him, and it got funnier and funnier every time.

The bodyguard, Liam, shook his head in frustration, then began again, "I was supposed to be watching the girl. I got hungry. I got a sandwich, came back, and she was gone."

"So what you're saying is that you lost the daughter of one of the most influential men in the world?" I continued.

"Yes," he smiled with a foolish grin.

"And you still have a job?" After Liam nodded, he decided to jest, "You realize that you could have just brought Cassie with you to get a sandwich, right?"

"Pfft. That would have been too easy."

Just then they could both hear a very loud male voice yelling in the next room over, "What on EARTH were you THINKING!?"

"I just wanted to—"

"What, did you want to get KILLED?! BECAUSE YOU ALMOST WERE!"

Trying his best to ignore the violent yelling from the next room over, he examined his surroundings. They were in a very large, castle-like mansion in the suburbs of Jubilife. The room they were in now was overly fancy, with antiques everywhere you looked. He felt anxious just sitting there, as if he might break something expensive, so he always remained on edge; he couldn't truly blame Cassie for running away— the place just felt so stuffy. He couldn't stand it, and he had only been here for an hour. How she had done it for eleven years was beyond him.

Trying to ignore the awkward silence the screaming from the other room had brought about, the larger man asked, "So how exactly did you end up running into Cassie?"

Ryan scratched his head then regaled, "Well… it was late at night, and I was trying to get through Oreburgh Gate as fast as I could—"

"You were in Oreburgh Gate alone at night!" Liam exclaimed exasperatedly.

"I was in Oreburgh Gate when I hear a loud scream penetrate the silence, so I went running. I give you three guesses at what I found," he stated with a smirk.

"Wait, Cassie was in Oreburgh Gate alone at night too!" he reiterated, seemingly more surprised than before.

Ryan nodded solemnly. "And she had gotten herself into quite the situation when I came across her," he paused momentarily to make sure he was still listening, then continued, "She managed to piss off a Gyarados. If I had gotten there a minute later, she might not be here now."

Liam looked surprisingly unsurprised. He stopped to think for a minute, then responded, "Figures… I always thought she would run away eventually, though I never would have imagined it would have been on my watch. This house is so cramped and stuffy; personally, I hate it here. And not to mention her father…"

"What's wrong with her father?" Ryan pressed.

"Well it's just… just that he isn't around a lot. Don't get me wrong, I know he loves Cassie, but… he isn't around much, and when he is, he isn't exactly the most 'loving' father," he replied with a somber tone in his voice.

Wanting to change the topic, Liam inquired, "So what happened when you found her?"

"My Pokemon and I swooped in and saved her. But Lis, my Absol, got hurt pretty bad in the process. Knowing our time was limited, I ran back to the Pokemon Center carrying Cassie. We got there around midnight, and stayed there till morning, when she insisted she battle me. And then… you came along," he concluded.

"Sounds like a pretty eventful 12 hours."

"That's an understatement," Ryan said with a laugh.

After a momentary lapse in conversation, Liam asked, "So how was she at battling?"

"She… well… " Ryan stammered, searching for the right word, "she has a lot of potential, I guess?"

"Hah, that sure is a nice way of putting it," he chuckled.

"She and her Pokemon are very close, but neither are very good in battle. That isn't to say her Pokemon aren't powerful, because they are, considering their trainer's age. They just don't work like a team. Cassie provides no strategy, and the role of the trainer is to lead their Pokemon and come up with a plan utilizing their assets and their enemy's shortcomings. All she did was fire random attacks in an attempt to land a hit on me."

"But," Ryan continued, "for the last bit of our battle, she did something promising."

"Oh?"

"She told her Beautifly to 'fly way up high and avoid the Absol's attacks'. It was a strategy, albeit a bad one, but a strategy none the less," he commended. "One day she could be a great trainer," he paused for a moment, "assuming her parents let her keep training."

He didn't know why, but the thought saddened him. He had grown used to the idea of Cassie traveling with him— although he was sure she would be a nuisance, she was still determined and motivated. And there was no doubt in his mind that she would provide a little bit of excitement along the way.

He wondered what her parents were talking to her about; they had been in there alone with her for at least an hour, if not more. The only noises he had heard from them was the occasional yelling from her father. Was everything okay in there? Even if Cassie had made a few rash decisions, she still deserved the chance to do what she wanted in life: a chance he never got himself.

Just then, the door to the other room flew open, and Cassie's mother quickly ushered the two inside.

Looking around the room, it seemed exactly like the one he was just in. There was a television hanging on the wall on the far side of the room, with two very expensive looking love seats resting in the middle. Ryan and Liam sat on the couch adjacent to Cassie's parents.

He took a moment to examine Cassie's parents. Her mother was very liberal looking, and dressed as such. She had a very regal outfit on, so as to fit the part of a rich businessman's wife. From the few brief words they had shared, she seemed nice enough. However, her father… he was a character. He was loud, rambunctious, and hot-tempered. He was shorter than average, and had jet black hair that was slicked back behind his head. All in all, he was a very formidable guy.

"Excuse me, Mister…" Cassie's mother began.

"Ryan."

"Excuse me Mister Ryan, would you mind telling us from your point of view what happened the other day?"

He nervously looked across all of the faces in his temporary audience. Cassie looked scared out of her mind. Cassie's parents were watching him expectantly. And Finally, Liam was watching him with a small grin spread across his face. He didn't like this, not one bit. He didn't do well in front of people, even if there were only four of them.

"Okay, well… it was about 10:30 p.m. when I reached the Route 203 side of Oreburgh Gate. It was pouring outside, so my tentative plan was to either wait the storm out in the dry cave, or press forward and reach the other side as quickly as possible. While I was waiting there contemplating, I heard a loud scream pierce the silence of the cave— so I went running."

Ryan stopped to gauge their reactions thus far. Liam seemed indifferent, having heard the story once already. Mr. Press seemed judgmental, as if interpreting every one of his words as just another way to reprimand his daughter. Mrs. Press simply seemed curious. But Cassie… Cassie was a whole different story all together. She seemed terrified of what punishment was to come, and resigned to the fact that her momentary freedom would be gone forever.

Looking at Cassie, he resolved to say anything he could to change her parent's perspective on the story. Maybe, if he said enough, she would even be able to keep training. Nobody deserved to be locked up inside for their whole life.

"Eventually I reached a cavern, where stood Cassie, a great Gyarados staring her down. Cassie was having none of it. From what I could gather, the Gyarados had been terrorizing a small little Marill, and Cassie stepped in to save it," he recalled with as much false enthusiasm as he could manage.

Cassie shot him a look of pure confusion.

"Not worried about the possible repercussions of her actions, she tried her darndest to save that Marill. She did fairly well, considering that she had only been a trainer for… what, then hours? I showed up just in time to help her out, but before we could push back the Gyarados, it got a pretty good hit in on my Pokemon. We went back to Jubilife, then Liam found us, and… here we are now."

There was a fairly long moment of silence, until Mrs. Press spoke up, "Is this accurate, Cassandra?"

"Y-yes," she replied hesitantly.

Mrs. Press scrutinized her child, then asked her, "Cassandra, would you and Mr. Ronnex mind leaving the room for a moment?" Knowing it was not a question but a command, she left the room, dragging her feet all of the way. Liam, slightly upset he would be missing the rest of the conversation, followed behind.

"So what should we do about Cassie?" Mrs. Press asked her husband.

"Ground her for a year, take her Pokemon away, and never let her leave the city again for the rest of her life." Ryan would have laughed at this, had he not known how dreadfully serious he was.

"Don't you think that's a bit too harsh—"

"Not at all," Mr. Press cut off his wife.

Ryan sat there, silently listening, wondering why on earth he was still there.

"I believe that we should ground her for a month, maximum," Mrs. Press rebutted.

"No. Grounded for at least ten months, no less," Mr. Press firmly held his stance.

"Alright, two months, but at least let her have her Pokemon. She was trying to save a poor little Marill! She deserves some commendation for that. And we're punishing Cassandra, not her Pokemon!"

"Fine… but there is no way she is ever leaving this city again. She could be dead right now!"

"She deserves—"

"Excuse me?" Ryan butted in.

Two pairs of expectant eyes resting upon him, a lump formed in his throat. Oh well, it was too late to turn back now…

"Well, when I first saw her, she was actually faring pretty well against the Gyarados; I was pretty much just back-up," he began.

"Your point?" Cassie's father snapped caustically.

"And then this morning, despite my protests, she insisted she battle me." Mrs. Press' eyebrows raised at the new fact. "Despite her age, and how new to battling her Pokemon were, she put up a really good fight. She displayed some pretty advanced strategies. She showed a lot of potential as a trainer."

Both of them now patiently listening, he prepared himself to continue, "Mister and Missus Press, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. I don't tell this to just anybody, so this will take a lot of explaining…"

"I am an orphan. I ran away from my orphanage at about the age of nine, simply because I was tired. I was tired of the regularity of the place: tired of all the limitations it placed on me. I survived on the streets for awhile, but then…" he looked back up at the parents, who were completely rapt by his story, "I was stolen away from the streets."

"A man who went by the title of 'Nexus' took me away and held me ransom— but I had nobody. There was nobody to save me, nobody to pay the ransom— that was when my best friend stepped in and saved my life."

Ryan gently grabbed the pokeball that rested at his waist, then released his Absol.

"My Absol, Lisette, would come visit me everyday in the warehouse. I was tied up and unable to move, but she would always come, every single day for five months, and sit next to me. She was my guardian, silently keeping watch over me. I would talk to her about anything and everything, her presence taking my mind off of my situation; she was what make it bearable for me."

" Eventually, the day came when my time was up. I was no longer worth anything to Nexus, so he planned to dispose of me."

By this point, Ryan was beginning to stumble on his words. He had never told his story in such detail before, and it hurt him. He could still feel the heavy ropes binding his wrists, and the cold, hard, unforgiving concrete floor underneath him. He shuddered at the memory.

"Held at gunpoint, Nexus spat caustic remarks at me, telling me how I was worthless and that I was unloved. Trying to prolong the time before my departure, I kept asking him pointless questions. Unbeknownst to either of us, Lis was slinking through the shadows of the abandoned warehouse, and just as he was about to pull the trigger, Lis jumped into action. She pounced onto Nexus, and bit down onto his neck— hard. He fell over, unable to move, and slowly bled out on the floor beside me."

Mrs. Press looked absolutely horrified.

"The rest was all a blur to me— Lis must have cut the ropes binding me, and performed some sort of daring escape, barely managing to avoid all of Nexus' minions. All I remembered though, was the sight of Nexus' lifeless body sitting next to me. Had… had Lis waited another moment to act, that could have been me. That night, out under the stars several miles from the warehouse, Lis sleeping beside me, I cried. I cried for Nexus. I cried for me. I cried for Lis. I cried for everything. How cruel and unforgiving could this world be?"

Ryan paused a moment to take a breath, then continued, "That night, looking up at the stars, I vowed that I would never take anything I had for granted. I would always remain positive, if only for the fact that I was still alive. I was now free… and I was going to make the best of what I had."

Willing himself to continue, he closed his eyes and spoke, "My point is… I never got the chance to have a normal childhood. I was thrown into the cruel world, completely and utterly alone, and I barely survived. There were so many things that I wish I had gotten the chance to do, but never did."

"I-I don't want Cassie to miss out like I did…" Ryan crouched down and buried his head in his Absol's alabaster fur, silently willing himself not to cry.

After several minutes of silence, Ryan stood back up and bravely finished, "I know you're worried about Cassie, and for good reason— it's cruel and unforgiving out there, and there are plenty of reasons to be afraid for her, but if you shelter her for her whole life, she will never get to experience the world on her own."

"If you two would like, Cassie can travel Sinnoh with me. I know the ropes, and I am much more experienced than she. I… I can make sure she stays safe."

After a long pause, Mrs. Press choked out, "I-I I'm sorry."

"I would love for Cassie to travel the world with you," she managed through shuddering sobs. Cassie's father merely nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

Ryan solemnly returned Lis to her pokeball, then vowed, "I promise I will keep her safe. You don't have to worry about a thing."

"Promise me that you two will call every once in a while?" Mrs. Press pleaded.

"Of course, if Cassie has a cell phone," Ryan answered.

After another uncomfortable pause, Cassie's mother offered, "Would you like to spend the night? You two can leave in the morning," Ryan nodded thankfully.

"Mr. Ronnex will show you to your room. On your way, please send Cassandra in." It was the first thing her father had said since Ryan had finished his speech.

Taking his leave, Ryan gently twisted the door knob, pulled the door open, and left the room. Liam, having already been instructed to show Ryan his room, began to lead him along.

"Hey Princess," Ryan called back to Cassie, "your parents want to talk to you again." Cassie forced a smile at the use of her nickname, then trudged back into the living room.

"So what was the verdict?" Liam asked nonchalantly.

"Cassie and I are leaving tomorrow." Liam stopped in his tracks. He turned around and shot him an incredulous look.

"How on earth did you manage that?!"

"I guess I'm just a good storyteller," Ryan responded with a gentle smile.

"Well you must've told one hell of a story to get Cassie's father to agree to that…" Ryan chuckled at his statement. He didn't know the half of it…

Eventually, three stories up, Liam showed Ryan to his room. He pushed open the door to reveal an enormous open guest room with a queen-sized bed and a balcony.

Liam leaving him to his own devices, Ryan wandered out onto the balcony. Carefully pushing the sliding glass door closed behind him, he looked up at the stars above him, night having just cascaded down upon the city.

He didn't know why he had defended Cassie. It just seemed like the right thing to do in the moment. As much as he hated retelling his childhood story, it was necessary. If he hadn't poured his heart out in front of them, there was no chance Cassie would have been able so leave her room for the next six months, let alone the Jubilife.

His long nights in the warehouse were brutal and endless. He was young and alone. Every night he would cry himself to sleep, longing to see the stars shining in the night sky outside. It was like freedom; he could imagine it in his head: so close, yet so far.

And as he looked up at the constellations in the sky, he wondered to himself. He wondered why the world was so cruel, and why there had to be cruel and evil people. He wondered why he was forced to live the life he had, and why all the bad in the world had been forced upon him.

Lost in his thoughts, Ryan almost missed the gentle rapping at his bedroom door.

Re-entering his room, he quickly make his way over to the door. He carefully pulled it open to reveal a tired-eyed Mrs. Press standing before him.

"Do you mind if I come in for a bit?" she asked him.

"Not at all, Mrs. Press."

"Please, call me Denise."

She wordlessly made her way out onto the balcony and took a seat on one of the fancy chairs resting by the edge. Ryan sat down next to her.

"I've always loved the night sky," Ryan whispered, "it always amazes me how beautiful it is."

Blatantly ignoring his statement, she questioned him, "How much of that Gyarados story was true?"

Ryan let out a genuine smile. "Pretty much just the fact that there was a Gyarados and that we were in the cavern."

She let out a small laugh at his brutal honesty. "Do you realize you just lied to one of the most influential and powerful men in the world?"

"Yes."

She smiled at his response. After sitting there for a moment, she began, "I like you."

She turned to make eye contact with him before continuing, "If you would lie to my husband just to let my baby keep training, I know you would do anything to keep her safe. Thank you."

"No problem. I'm happy to be able to travel with her," curious, Ryan probed, "so how did she react when she heard the news?"

Mrs. Press smiled at the good-natured question. "She was very surprised, to say the least. She was so excited— I haven't seen her that happy in years! You must have make quite the impression on her, Mister Ryan." After seeing him smile, she continued, "She wanted to come up and talk to you, but we wanted to make sure she got a full night's rest of tomorrow."

"She's quite a handful. You've got a lot on your plate, honey," she warned him.

Ryan shrugged, then responded, "How bad could it be? I've already saved her life once."

She rolled her eyes, and their conversation trailed into a comfortable silence.

Eventually, she spoke up again. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what?"

"Everything. Everything that has happened to you. It must have been so hard… even when you were just retelling the us your story, I could tell how much it had affected you…"

He forced a small smile, "I would have done anything to convince you guys to let Cassie to keep training."

"I wasn't the one who you needed to convince," she trailed off. "Don't get me wrong, I love my husband, but he is very tempestuous. There is absolutely no way that I would have been able to convince him to let her go."

Ryan just let her keep talking, "I'm glad she's getting a chance to see the world. I'm happy for her."

"I promise I'll make her call so you won't miss her too badly," Ryan told her.

Her eyes shot open in remembrance. "Oh! That reminds me. Here you go," she murmured, then handed a small box over to Ryan.

"Poketch Cell Phone," he read the cover of the box aloud.

"You don't have to give me this," he told her while trying to hand back the gift, "it's much too expensive!"

"Ryan, my husband owns Poketch. You really think we had to pay for that?"

He scratched his head, slightly embarrassed by his lack of forethought.

"And plus," she continued, "it's not just a gift— we want to be able to reach you. Both my husband's and my own numbers are already programmed into it."

She yawned, and then stood up. "Well, it's getting mighty late: much past my bed time. I'll take my leave now." She embraced Ryan, then quickly pulled away. "Good luck tomorrow, Ryan. You'll need it."

And with that, she closed the door behind her, leaving Ryan alone once again.

Ryan wandered over to his bed and sat down upon it; he had never sat on something so comfortable in his life! Granted, the only bed he had ever had was at the orphanage, if that could even be considered a bed. But this mattress was a soft as a cloud!

He pulled the covers up over himself and sat there staring at the ceiling.

What on earth had he gotten himself into?

* * *

Author's Note: Phew, it's done! Sorry this chapter took awhile; it came out much longer than I had anticipated it to be. I was expecting 2k words max, but it turned out to be over 4k…

How did I do with this chapter? I tried to make it as emotional and gut-wrenching as possible. Did Ryan's back story come off as extremely sad, or overly cliched? Please don't hesitate to tell me.

Also, that final part (the conversation between Ryan and Cassie's mom) was a last minute decision. The idea popped into my head right before I posted this, and it wouldn't stop tugging at the back of my mind until I wrote it. I think it came out pretty well.

To be honest with you, I love this chapter. It came out much more powerfully than I could have hoped, and I'm very proud of it. I'm hoping Cassie's parents were characterized as well in my writing as they were in my head…

Thanks so much for reading. Seriously, you guys are the best! ^^


	6. All at Once

Disclaimer: I'm getting real tired of saying this. I dO nOt OwN pOkEmOn.

* * *

Ryan rose with the sun. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and with the grace of an elephant, pulled himself from the enormous bed. Clambering onto his feet and waltzing into the bathroom, he couldn't help but be nervous; Arceus knows what was going to go wrong next.

The turned on the faucet and began to splash water onto his face to wake himself up. After a quick glance in the mirror to make sure he looked reasonably presentable, he made his bed and began the trek back downstairs after grabbing his meager belongings.

After several wrong turns, he eventually found the foyer. He pushed his way into the dining room to see if anybody else was awake, and sitting at the dining room table waiting were Cassie and her mother.

Ryan shuffled his feet. "Did I keep you guys waiting?"

"Oh no, not at all Honey. Cassie just couldn't sleep so she was up at the crack of dawn, and I was just here with her. I wanted to make sure she remembered the terms of our agreement," Mrs. Press replied far too happily for the early hour that it was.

"Can we eat now?" Cassie huffed.

"Sure, Dearie."

With a simple whistle, a chef entered the room.

"Breakfast please, Chef Alton."

With a simple nod, the man was gone once again.

Taking a seat adjacent to Cassie, Ryan asked, "Where is Mr. Press?"

Mrs. Press laughed. "He's always out far before this hour due to his work. To be honest, I can't even remember the last time he was able to have breakfast with us. It's a shame, because I know it's his favorite meal."

"Can we leave right after breakfast, Mom?"

Mrs. Press sighed. "Are you sure you have to go on this journey? You can wait another few years—"

"Mom!"

"Fine, Fine. I know."

After several more minutes of playful banter between the mother and daughter duo, the chef pranced back into the room. After placing an enormous platter in front of all three of them, he took a bow and exited back into the kitchen.

The sheer amount of food in front of Ryan rendered him speechless. He had never seen this much food in one place, let alone eaten so much! Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, waffles; there was no end to the amount of food on his plate.

"How did he cook all of this so fast?" Ryan asked.

"Only the best chefs can work in our kitchen, Honey. We only settle for the best."

He should have figured.

"So, um, what exactly are the terms of Cassie, um, leaving home?" Ryan stammered. He felt very uncomfortable— he was used to being in this kind of setting.

"She has to call at least once every few days, preferably more than that. I want her to always stay in your sight; I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she happened to get hurt."

Ryan nodded in understanding.

"She also has to follow your instructions when the need be. We wouldn't want her doing anything rash," she added with a glare to her daughter.

"You all packed, Princess?" Ryan asked jokingly.

"Packed?" She questioned.

"I'll take that as a no, then."

Ryan hesitantly began to eat the food placed before him. His eyes widened in shock at the sheer flavor of the pancakes; they tasted like heaven!

"Would you mind helping her pack her things? Neither of us have any clue as to what she might need to bring," the older woman asked.

Regaining his composure, Ryan answered, "Sure, I'd be happy to."

They all finished their meal in a comfortable silence. As soon as they were done, Cassie dragged Ryan upstairs to her room.

"C'mon! We have to get done fast! We're wasting valuable traveling time!"

Ryan examined her room with a critical eye; it was exactly what he had expected it to be. Hot pink paint all over the walls with random Butterfree and Gardevoir stickers stuck on the walls. She had an enormous bed with dark purple bed sheets, and a large flat-screen TV opposite it.

"So what do I need to pack?"

"A backpack would be the first thing you'd need."

Cassie bolted to the other side of her room and whipped open what he assumed was her closet door. Inside was the largest array of odds and ends he had ever seen— clothes, toys, shoes; you name it, and it was there.

She ran to the back of the walk-in closet, pulled out a teal-colored backpack, and walked back over to Ryan.

"Will this work?"

"That'll do fine. Now you need a few pairs of clothes. Bring more than what you had when you ran away; we're going to be gone for much longer."

She ran back into her closet and pulled out clothes that were far too nice for what they were going to be used for, and unceremoniously shoved them into the bag.

"Now grab any supplies you want to carry with you: personal treasures that you want to keep by your side."

She pulled an expensive-looking necklace out of a drawer and pushed it down to the bottom of the backpack.

"You should probably grab your Pokemon while you're at it."

She let out a laugh at her own forgetfulness, then grabbed the pokeballs and placed them in the outside pocket of the bag.

"Do you have a bedroll?"

She shook her head.

"It's not that important now; we can get you one later on. You have pretty much everything that you'll need in the nearby future," he concluded.

Throwing the backpack over her shoulders, she pulled him back downstairs where her mother and Liam were patiently waiting.

"Did she have everything she needed?" Mrs. Press asked with a motherly concern in her voice.

"Everything that she needs as of right now. We'll do some shopping and get her the other necessities."

"Okay. Wait here a minute while I go and get my purse to give you some money."

"You don't have to…" he trailed off, as she was already gone.

Oblivious to everything around her, Cassie was happily humming to herself.

"You do realize what you've just signed yourself up for, right?" The bodyguard asked innocently.

"It can't possibly be that bad, can it?"

He chuckled. "Buddy, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into. Good luck." He playfully socked Ryan in the shoulder.

Just then, Cassie's mother re-entered the room. "Here you go. Use what you need, and keep the rest just in case."

Ryan looked down at the check she had just handed him, and his eyes widened in shock at the humongous number on the small slip of paper. "I couldn't possibly—"

"Nonsense. Keep it; it's the least I can do."

Ryan smiled sheepishly at her generosity.

She bent down and pulled Cassie into a tight embrace. "Promise me that you'll call, Cass. And remember our deal!"

"Yes, mom," She replied, hugging her mother back just as tightly.

Mrs. Press then moved on to Ryan. She hugged him, albeit less tightly, and told him, "Take good care of my little girl. I still think she's far too young for this…"

"I will," he replied, not trusting himself to say anything else.

Liam walked over to Ryan, and shook his hand. "Have fun Buddy. Call me whenever you need a little assistance— I put my number into your phone."

Ryan laughed. "Thanks."

After many more drawn-out goodbyes, Cassie and Ryan eventually made it out of the house.

Cassie looked up at him expectantly. "What do we do now?"

"Well, we should probably get you some more emergency supplies," he replied thoughtfully.

"So what you're saying is we should go shopping?"

"I guess—"

He was interrupted by a shriek of glee from the young girl. "Shopping Spree!"

Ryan's eyes widened in shock; there was no way he would make it out of a shopping spree alive with this girl. He was sure her energy was endless, and based upon her excitement, this shopping spree probably would be as well.

She dragged him from store to store, spending an hour in each one just looking at all of their clothes, let alone even trying them on. Ryan felt that he would lose it if they didn't take a break soon. Eventually, he managed to convince her to go into a local Mom-and-Pop store to get the sleeping supplies they needed.

Upon entering the store, and employee accosted them with false-sincerity. "How might I be able to help you two?" He asked with a false smile.

"Do you happen to have any bedrolls?" Ryan asked him innocently.

"Follow me please." The man led them to the back of the store where an assortment of sleeping bags hung from the wall. Ryan examined them all thoroughly; he didn't have a bedroll himself, and he figured since Mrs. Press had been nice enough to give him the money, he might as well get one.

"They're arranged by price. The most expensive ones are on the right, while the cheaper ones are on the left."

Without a second thought, Cassie pranced over to the right side of the wall.

"Are you looking for lightweight or comfort in a sleepingbag?"

Ryan looked over at Cassie; based on her background, it was clear she wasn't very athletic. There was no way she would be able to carry a heavy sleeping bag as well as all of the contents of her backpack.

"Lightweight."

"The ultralight ones are labeled with Altaria feathers on the tag. Call me over if you need anything else."

Ryan pulled the first sleeping bag he saw off of the wall; it was black and simple, just the way he wanted it— it was better to not stand out. However, he was sure Cassie would want the exact opposite.

After several minutes of searching, she found one that she liked. It was teal, the same color as her backpack.

"It has to match my backpack; I would look stupid if they didn't!" She explained.

After paying a large sum of money for the sleeping bags, Ryan insisted that they go to the Pokemart to stock up on supplies for their journey.

"But the Pokemart is so boring!" Cassie complained.

"You need healing items in case your Pokemon get injured. I promise we won't be long."

Pushing his way into the Pokemart that he had been in not so long ago, Ryan was disappointed to see the elderly woman, Hilda, was not working. There was a bored-looking young man standing in her place.

Ryan led Cassie to the back aisle to pick out the supplies he deemed necessary for them to have. Carrying them over to the counter, the clerk rung them up.

"That'll be 765 poké," he told Ryan monotonously.

Ryan wordlessly placed the requested amount of money on the counter, dispersed the supplies evenly between the two of them, and they continued on their way.

"I think we've done enough shopping," Ryan pleaded, praying she would listen to reason.

"Just one more store, I promise!"

"You said that five stores ago, Princess."

"Oh, shush."

She led him down the street, and eventually they reached a small shop on a busy street corner. Cassie pushed inside.

"Hey Cass! What's the occasion this time?" A friendly voice inquired.

"I'm going on my Pokemon journey!"

They middle-aged man's eyes widened in surprise; he then took notice of Ryan.

"And who might this be?" He asked with a broad smile.

"This is Ryan," Cassie explained, "he's the one who convinced Daddy and Mommy to let me leave home."

He looked Ryan over with an impressed expression on his face. "You must be some kind of wizard. I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined Rich would let her leave home."

Ryan laughed as Cassie walked about the store, examining all of the shopkeeper's merchandise.

"My name is Alden. Alden Horstmann." Ryan shook his hand. "I'm a friend of the Press family. I've known them for years," he continued.

"Can you help me take this dress off of the rack?" Cassie yelled from across the store.

He rushed over to her, shooting a look back at Ryan. He hesitantly followed him over to the other side of the store. After assisting Cassie in taking down the outfit, he turned back to Ryan.

"You do realize what you've gotten yourself into, right?"

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?"

Alden laughed. "She can be quite the handful. But it seems as if she's already taken a liking to you; you've got it lucky."

"Here's my business card. Call me up if you need any help with Ms. Nightmare over there," he joked with a gentle elbow to the side.

Ryan smiled and read the card:

_Alden Horstmann_

_Shopkeeper/ Photographer_

_Phone: 529-392-2844_

_~Need a hand? Call me and I'll be there~_

Ryan looked him up and down, then questioned, "You're a photographer?"

"Call it a little hobby of mine, if you will."

Ryan shrugged, then turned back to watch Cassie examine all of the clothes throughout the store.

What _had_ he gotten himself into?

* * *

Author's Notes: Ahhhh. Sorry that this chapter is filler-ish. It would be far too long if I continued on, because the next chapter is going to be pretty long, and I don't want to bore you guys too much in one update.

No matter how pointless it seems now, this chapter will be extremely importantly later on; I promise.

Please review and let me know how I did.

Thanks again for reading! If you've stuck with me for this long, then I'm extremely thankful. All those views are what keep me writing on.

I just want to thank everybody that has reviewed so far— Quantum Jump, d27h, koryandrs, zike94, shinyzoroark246, Y-ko; you guys are the best. ^^

Thanks again for reading!


	7. Play On

Disclaimer: This is the last time I'm going to say this, so remember it. I'm sure you're as tired of it as I am, so here goes; I DO NOT OWN POKEMON. GAME FREAK DOES. Okay, are we good? Good.

* * *

"Floaroma? Where is that?"

Ryan gestured to the open fields in front of him. "That way, just past Route 204."

She nodded in understanding. "Wait, so why are we going there?"

He looked her straight in the eyes. "I don't think you want to go back through Oreburgh Gate. Am I correct?"

She sheepishly shuffled her feet, her face as white as snow. Ryan smiled back at her; he couldn't blame her for any of the things she had done. She wanted to escape the confines of normalcy that her childhood had wrapped her in— everything else was simply a coincidence. A horrible, horrible coincidence.

The Gyarados incident… that would probably never leave her. But things happened for a reason, and she had hopefully taken a valuable lesson from everything— he had.

Ryan began to lead Cassie down the grassy fields of Route 204. He couldn't help but smile— he was heading out on a journey, this time for real. It hadn't been that long ago that this same euphoric feeling had left him so gleeful. Though this time, instead of ominous storm clouds and torrential rain, they sky was blessedly clear; there were blue skies no matter where you looked. Ryan decided to take this as a good omen. Why else would this day be so perfect?

Eventually a small cave appeared in the distance, much to Cassie's chagrin.

"You mean there's another cave we have to go through?!"

"It could hardly be considered a cave. It's really small, I promise," Ryan reassured. He prayed that it truly was a small passage. Cassie's look of pure terror was enough to make him wince. Yes, the Gyarados incident definitely wouldn't ever leave her…

Ryan looked over at the young girl beside him, fidgeting with the backpack strapped over her shoulders. He knew he was ready for this, but was she? She was young, and it was very clear that she wasn't very experienced with Pokemon. Maybe she'd pick up a thing or two along the way. Maybe. Hopefully.

"What moves do your Pokemon know?" If they were going to be traveling together, it would be best to get to know her Pokemon.

Cassie's face erupted into an enormous smile. "Sassy knows Ember, Confuse Ray, and Will-o-wisp. Er, well at least those are the only moves of hers she uses." There was no way a Pokemon of her level only knew three moves; that was ridiculous! He wasn't even going to comment on how she didn't know all of her Pokemon's moves…

"And Vanna knows Absorb, Tackle, and Gust." Again, only three moves?

"So do you have a battling strategy?"

Cassie shook her head in response. "I've only really battled you and the gym leader back in Oreburgh."

"And how did your fight with Roark go?"

Contorted her face in a moment of intense concentration. "It was pretty easy. He didn't even stand a chance. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it was kinda like he wasn't even trying… he probably just knew right away that he was going to lose." She finished with a very proud grin. Ryan let out a loud sigh at her shameless hubris.

After some time, the duo eventually reached the Ravaged Path, Cassie quickly dragging Ryan through the cave, wanting to get out as soon as possible.

"Where did you get your Pokemon?"

"My Mommy bought them for me as a present," she explained, "What about your Pokemon?"

"I— well, let's just say I found her one day." He wasn't about to tell his life story to a girl he'd practically only just met, even if her parents had been overly generous to him.

"Is your white furred Pokemon—"

"Absol," he corrected.

"Is your Absol your only Pokemon?" She asked.

"As of right now, yes she is." Cassie looked up to him incredulously.

"How is she your only Pokemon! Shouldn't you have caught more by now?"

He let out a hearty laugh. "I'm only just starting travelling now too. I've spent the rest of my life in Jubilife with Lis."

"Are you ever going to get another Pokemon," she inquired.

"Maybe someday. Only if I find the right one— not just any Pokemon can be on my team. We're the best in the world," he stated in a joking manner.

She giggled at his bold statement. "What, all two of you?"

Ryan gasped in mock surprise. "Are you trying to insult me?"

"Maybe," she managed between bouts of giggles.

He was glad that Cassie was having fun. It would be horrible if her first experience outside of Jubilife was boring and depressing one.

"Well, how about you? Are you going to catch another Pokemon?"

"Only if it is as cute as the rest of my team," she finished. Ryan scratched his head; was that really how she picked her team? Their cuteness?

They trudged through the grass, slowly making their way toward Floaroma. Ryan looked down at his feet; there were several Pokemon running amok. There were several Budew around, chasing each other about. There were some Shinx basking in the sun over to the left. And… there was a Wurmple slowly making it's way over to Cassie's feet. The small Pokemon eventually reached her and began slowly crawling its way up her legs, much to her surprise.

"AHHH! EW EW EW EW EW! GET IT OFF OF ME!" She shrieked. Ryan couldn't have helped her even if he had wanted to, simply because he was laughing too hard.

"GET THIS VILE, DISGUSTING CREATURE AWAY FROM ME!" The irony was that she didn't realize her Beautifly had evolved from that 'vile, disgusting creature'.

Eventually she calmed herself down for long enough to kick the worm-like Pokemon off of her leg. Cassie sat down and began to take deep breaths, trying to calm herself down from her traumatizing experience. Ryan sat down next to her once he regained his control of his laughter.

"That was so not funny," she pouted.

"Yeah, it kinda was." He playfully elbowed her in the side. She folded her arms over her chest in contempt.

Just then, a pair of girls who looked to be about a few years older than Cassie came running around the corner, concerned expressions on their faces. One was blonde and the other was a brunette, but aside from that single difference, they were practically identical. They had slim figures and were a bit taller than Cassie. They didn't have many supplies with them, so they must have come from close by, likely Floaroma Town.

"What happened?! We heard yelling so we came running," the blonde one stated.

"Oh, nothing to worry about. Just a little bug incident," he answered with a knowing look to Cassie. She elbowed him in the side, and he flinched.

The two girls shared a knowing glance, then laughed. After another moment of silence, the brunette spoke up, "Do you two want to double battle? It'll be fun, I promise!"

Ryan frowned. Granted, a battle would be fun— just not with Cassie. No offense, she just wasn't exactly the most competent trainer, and for good reason. She had only been at it for what, maybe twenty-four hours? He wouldn't risk half of their money on a stupid battle. It was quite clear that the girls wanted to exploit the advantage of Cassie's young age. They wouldn't battle anybody until he properly taught her the basics of battling. Then, and only then, it was a maybe.

"No thanks, we—"

"Sure! We'd love to battle!" Cassie chirped.

"Okay, it's settled then!" The blonde replied.

"Is one Pokemon each good? Both of us only have one Pokemon each, so…" the brunette added.

"Sure, one Pokemon is perfect."

Really? Was he getting roped into this?

"Go, Plusle!"

"Go, Minun!"

Huh. Looked like he was. Two electric types? This should be interesting. Cassie, please, please don't send out you darn Beautifly… flying types are a really bad idea right now. Ryan resolved to end this quickly so they could be on their way.

"Go, Vanna!"

Damn it all.

Ryan silently released his Absol, desperately hoping this would be over as fast as it had begun.

All of the competitors backed to their respective sides of the impromptu playing field, preparing for the match. Ryan turned to Cassie and advised, "You should hang back for this battle. I don't mean to hurt your feelings or anything, but Vanna is a flying type, and they are both electrics. And they are several years older than you to boot. We don't want any of your Pokemon getting hurt." His advice seemed to infuriate Cassie more than to reason with her.

"Vanna, Tackle!"

Ryan physically cringed.

"Minun, use Charge!" the blonde commanded.

"Plusle, use Thunderbolt," murmured her brunette counterpart. The small, mouse-like electric type nodded in affirmation and, after a moment of intense concentration, launched a very fine and very powerful bolt of electricity down the field toward the Beautifly. The Beautifly barely spiraled out of the way of the formidable attack. Peeved by the near hit, she turned around and, with a deadpan face, stared back at her owner.

Her Beautifly's reaction seemingly gone unnoticed, she tried once again. "Use Absorb!"

"Plusle, use Helping Hand!"

"Minun. Thunder."

Ryan froze. His mind rapidly drawing connections, he knew he had to act now or it would be too late. With the boosted power of Charge and Helping Hand, Thunder would easily tear through that small, weak, adorable little beautifly. "Lis, try and help!" he cried with desperation in his voice, knowing all too well how fruitless his efforts were.

With an evil glint in its eye, the tiny, mouse-like creature summoned an impossibly large storm cloud. With a guttural shriek, an enormous thunderbolt slammed down onto a helpless Vanna. The Beautifly rapidly fell to the ground, landing with a resounding thud.

Cassie stared on hopelessly, eyes clouded with tears. Suddenly her lip began to quiver, and the floodgates bursted open. Slamming her eyes shut to push away the tears, she sprinted over to her Pokemon. Holding Vanna in her arms, she broke down. This… this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't become a trainer. It… it was all her fault… Not caring about what the others thought of her, she returned her Pokemon to its pokeball and bolted, desperately wanting to get away from it all.

Ryan sighed inwardly at the events that had just transpired. He called back his Pokemon, and went to go chase after Cassie, stopping only to speak to the two girls. "Was all of that really necessary? This was her first day training, you know. You probably just ruined a little girl's dream." Without waiting for a response, Ryan handed over half of his money and chased after Cassie, not even bothering to turn around. And what he missed was a pair of heads hanging in shame behind him.

* * *

It didn't take much looking to find the young girl— after all, there weren't all that many places a someone like her would be able to hide in a forest. He supposed up in a tree, away from all of the nasty Wurmple squirming around on the forest floor, should have been the first place to check. She stuck out like a sore thumb.

"I don't want to be a trainer anymore." Cassie wasn't sitting very high up in the tree. She was maybe six feet up, and was clearly shaken by the whole experience.

Ryan chose to ignore her remark. "You know what? You've had a pretty eventful last few days." He looked over to her to make sure she was listening. He then climbed up into the tree and sat down in a branch adjacent to her. Looking out into the forest, he continued, "A gym badge, an infuriated Gyarados, the wrath of your angry parents…"

Cassie looked over at him, rapt.

"I would consider you extremely lucky."

She shot him a confused look.

"What other eleven year old can say they ran away from home, defeated Roark, and fought back a vicious Gyarados— all in one day?"

A ghost of a smile began to grace her face.

"I can already tell you're getting better at training. You're learning new things every day. You're going to be an extremely powerful trainer one day, maybe even champion…" he trailed off.

Cassie looked over at him expectantly.

"But none of that will happen if you quit training."

She scrunched up her face, realizing Ryan's point.

"I don't want to force you into anything. If it's what you want, I can take you back home right now— Or you can keep traveling with me. I can help you train; there is a whole big world out there left for you to discover, but if you go home, you won't be able to."

"You know, you're much better than I was when I was your age. To be honest, I didn't even win my first battle until I was twelve," Ryan added. He hated lying, but in this circumstance, it was important.

Cassie momentarily fidgeted on her branch."Yes," she replied stoically

"Yes What?"

"I- I want to keep training.

Ryan smiled. "Perfect. Now whaddaya say we get Vanna to a Pokemon Center?"

* * *

Author's Notes: Ahhh. Sorry this chapter took so long. As much as I hate it, my writing gets put on the back burner when my duties as the SPL of my scout troop take over.

Seven chapters in, and every chapter I get more and more excited. I have a lot planned for this story, and I cannot wait until I get to the good part.

Anywho, please review! Anything helps. Once again, you guys are the best people in the world!

Again, if anybody would like to Beta, please, please get in touch with me. See y'all next time!


	8. The Newcomer

After a quick stop at Floaroma, the duo was back on their way, trudging their way down Route 205 with their Pokemon beside them. It was clear Cassie was growing tired of walking, as she was constantly fidgeting with the straps of her backpack. Determined not to show any weakness, she insisted they press on.

"You know the second gym is in the next city, right?" Ryan asked.

"It is? Awesome!" Cassie said excitedly, all traces of exhaustion in her voice gone.

"We still haven't trained yet. I promise you that Gardenia will not be nearly as easy as Roark. Do you want to train later?"

She nodded solemnly in response, staring down at her feet.

Suddenly Ryan stopped in his tracks, shocked by the beautiful sight laid out before him. Cassie, staring at the ground, stopped walking several feet after him, only to stare in awe as well.

They quickly made their way down the path to get a better look. The sun was just beginning to set over the horizon, casting an elegant pinkish orange glow over the sky. Interspersed throughout the sky were a hundred or so Drifloon, carelessly floating wherever the wind blew them.

"What are they?"

"Drifloon. They are supposedly really rare; you usually only find one at a time. Never like this…"

Cassie solemnly at her feet. It was clear that something was bugging her, but Ryan figured that she would put it out there when she was ready. Just as he thought this, she spoke up, "Ryan? Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"There is a lot about you that I don't understand. Why are you just now starting your Pokémon journey? And why did you offer to travel with me? And how on earth did you convince my parents to let me leave home?" she interrogated.

Ryan sighed. Her questions were all valid and she deserved to know the answers, however, she was much too young to hear the whole truth. "I just wanted to make sure I had done everything there was to do back in Jubilife."

"That doesn't answer my question. Any of my questions, actually," she pouted.

He gave her a sheepish smile.

Realizing she wasn't going to get any more than that out of him, she tried a different question. "If you won't tell me why you left Jubilife so late, then you have to tell me how you convinced my parents to let me leave. They hardly even let me out of my room!" she whined.

Ryan laughed. "I told them to grow up, you're going to need to explore the world on your own. They seemed to see my reasoning."

She looked back up at him skeptically. "There is definitely more than that."

"I'll tell you the full story when you're old—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Cassie threatened.

Ryan threw his hands in the air in mock defense.

"Alright… so why did you want to travel with me?" Cassie asked.

He paused momentarily to gather his thoughts. Why did he volunteer? If he was being honest with himself, he didn't truly know. It just sort of happened.

"Well, I knew that if I didn't volunteer, you would just try to run away again, so it was for the best. I also figured that if I'm here with you, you probably would be safer. No more Gyarados incidents, right?"

She sat there in stoic silence.

Ryan turned to face the setting sun. The great ball of gas was slowly sinking below the horizon, blessing the sky with more tendrils of pink and orange and banishing the light of day. It was wonderful. He had never really taken the time to watch the sunrise— or the sunset, for that matter— in Jubilife. By the time he had a chance to relax and look up at the sky, the sun had always been long gone, leaving him alone with the darkness: hence his penchant for the night sky.

Ryan sighed. Things were all changing so quickly, and he didn't like it. In the matter of a few days, not only was had he gained a traveling companion, but made a few new friends. But that wasn't the bad part. What was bad was the fact that he now had people who looked up to him. He wasn't a leader. Hell, he wasn't even a follower. He was just… there.

He looked over it at Cassie. She was staring at the sky, her eyes wistfully following the path of the Drifloon. He felt sorry for her. She had lived a lonely childhood— he was willing to bet anything that her parents had her homeschooled, and that because of that, she didn't have many friends. Not to mention that her parents hardly even let her out of the house in the first place. The only friends she had were her Pokémon.

He knew how that felt.

"Do you want to train?" He didn't know what made him ask. He just did.

Cassie looked over to him and replied, "Sure."

She moved to pull out her pokéballs, but Ryan stopped her. "We're not going to physically train quite yet. We have to make sure you know the basics first."

"Wait, you mean like school? Ugh," she groaned.

"Let's start with type advantages and disadvantages. What types do you think would be powerful against Sassy?"

Cassie started racking her brain for an answer. "Well, she's a fire type, so definitely water. Uh, maybe rock? Yeah, rock. I remember Roark being surprised when I sent out Sassy."

"There's one more."

"...I have no idea."

"Ground," he answered simply. "What types do you think she would be powerful against?"

"Grass," she answered immediately.

Ryan nodded in affirmation.

"Um… maybe ice? I can't think of any more."

"Bug and Steel," Ryan added.

"Gotcha."

After a moment of silence, Ryan half-asked, half-ordered, "Alright, name me all of the types that are super effective against Sassy."

"Uh…" Cassie stammered.

"..."

Ryan let out an immense sigh. This… this was going to be a struggle.

* * *

After an hour or so of drilling Cassie on her Pokémon's advantages and disadvantages, he deemed them worthy of a break. She had made progress. It was minimal, but hey— progress was progress.

"Alright, we should try and go a little bit farther ahead before we call it a night," Ryan suggested.

"Okay," Cassie replied.

Just as she was about to get up, the tall grass in front of them began to violently shake. Cassie quickly jumped back in fear.

Heart beating faster and faster, Ryan climbed to his feet and very carefully made his way over to the tall grass. He carefully used his left foot to spread apart the grass, only to reveal a small Buizel. The Buizel in question then proceeded to leap at Ryan's leg and bite down. Hard.

"Aargh!" he screamed, trying to throw the rodent off of him. He eventually managed to pry the water type off of his leg, causing the wound to open. Looking at the blood that was now running freely down his leg, Ryan sighed and released Lis from her pokéball.

"Stay back, Princess," Ryan ordered.

Completely oblivious to the alabaster Pokémon's numerous advantages, the Buizel launched itself at the Absol. Lis quickly skidded out of its path, and the smaller Pokémon tumbled forward into open space. Without a moment's hesitation, the Buizel picked itself up and launched itself at Lis once more, giving her no time to recuperate. This same process repeated itself again and again, and Ryan watched amusedly. Deciding that he'd had enough, he told Lis to "Use a weak Charge Beam."

Pausing to get her bearings, the Pokémon in question did just that— and it hit the Buizel head on. The attack, being super effective, clearly did some major damage to the weaker Pokémon. Close to unconsciousness, the Buizel still managed to clamber back up onto its feet. Determined to win, it painstakingly slowly dragged itself towards Lis. Lis simply took a few steps in a different direction, and the Buizel tried to follow.

After a few minutes of this, the Buizel grew too exhausted to continue and fell onto its back, panting heavily from overexertion.

"If the poor thing keeps this up, it is going to get severely hurt," said Cassie, her voice laced with concern.

After a moment of trepidation, Ryan did something nobody would have expected him to do. He didn't even expect it himself; he pulled out a pokéball and gently tossed it at the weakened Pokémon.

The whole field seemed stark silent. In that moment, nobody spoke or moved— except the Pokéball. With three slow shakes, the object locked closed, sealing the Buizel inside. Ryan cautiously moved over to the pokéball and picked it up, stowing it in his back pocket.

Cassie eyed him curiously. "What happened to never having any Pokémon other than Lis?"

Ryan shrugged. "I guess I changed my mind."

Cassie walked over to Ryan, and the two began to head back to Floaroma to heal the newcomer.

"So… why did you catch it?"

Ryan smiled. "It had a determination in its eyes, and I recognized that. It desperately wanted to become more powerful, and that need is just what I want for Pokémon on my team. It doesn't matter if he has a lot of catching up to do to reach Lis' level of skill— as long as he wants to improve, I'm fine. Plus— now you can't bug me about only having one Pokémon."

"...You realize that the Pokémon just attacked you, right? What if it didn't want to be caught?"

"Well then we'll just have to convince it otherwise, won't we?"

Cassie didn't respond immediately, lost in her own thoughts. She looked up to him and then asked cheerily, "So what are you going to name him?"

Ryan though about this for a moment. To be honest, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. "Wait, how do you know that it is a boy?"

She giggled. "Ryan, did you see how it didn't hesitate to attack you? It is definitely a boy."

He rolled his eyes in response.

"You should name it Oliver."

"Oliver?"

"Oliver. It fits."

He had to admit, the name did have a nice ring to it. "Maybe. If it is a boy."

Eventually the duo reached the Pokémon Center. As they pushed their way back through the glass doors, Nurse Joy looked up at them. "You two back so soon?" she asked jokingly.

Ryan jogged up to the counter and placed the Buizel's pokeball on the counter. "I just caught this one. It's a Buizel. A pretty angry one, too."

Nurse Joy looked up at him nervously. "Did… did you catch it over on Route 205? Near Valley Windworks?"

"Yes? Is that bad?"

Nurse Joy let out a shaky laugh. "This is the Buizel that has been terrorizing trainers recently. We've been trying to get rid of it for months."

Ryan shrugged. "Problem solved, I guess."

"I-I'll go heal him for you."

Nurse Joy turned to go into the back room, and Ryan walked back over to Cassie who was sitting down in the waiting area. After a moment of waiting, Nurse Joy sauntered back over to Ryan. "Here you go, he's all healed up. Would you like to nickname him?"

"So it's a boy?"

Cassie shot him a knowing smirk.

"I-I guess I'll name it Oliver then."

"Oliver it is! I'll program that into the computer in just a minute. You guys are free to go on your way, if you'd like. Good luck," she added sarcastically.

Ryan looked out the door, only to see that it was now dark outside. Turning back to her, he asked. "Actually, do you guys have any more rooms available? I think we'd prefer to spend the night here."

"S-Sure. Just follow me."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Ryan and Cassie were situated in their new room. Cassie was sitting on the edge of her bed, watching Ryan pace around the room with the pokéball in his hand. "Are you going to let him out tonight?" she asked.

Ryan sighed. "No, I don't think so. I don't want the thing to tear up this room. We don't have nearly enough money with us to pay for a whole new Pokémon Center."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Well then stop fretting about it. If you aren't going to let him out tonight, then you shouldn't be freaking out. Save the worry for tomorrow when you actually do let him out."

"I will."

Cassie stuck her tongue out at him. "That wasn't very convincing. Anyways, I'm going to bed." She pulled herself upright on her bed and climbed under the covers, laying down in the process. "Goodnight." Her voice was muffled under all of the blankets.

Ryan laughed. "Night, Princess."

Ryan meandered over to the window and looked up at the night sky. Never in his wildest dreams would he ever have thought that he would get another Pokémon. Yet here he was.

He didn't even get a chance to talk to Lis about Oliver. They were a team, and teams were supposed to work together. The guilt was eating him alive— he had to set things right. He had to figure out this whole mess.

He turned around to Cassie, only to hear her light snoring. He snorted. "Of course she snores." Confident that Cassie was asleep, he grabbed his two Pokéballs and a room key and stepped out into the hallway, locking the door behind him.

Ryan climbed the set of stairs down at the end of the hallway and pushed out onto the roof of the Pokémon Center. He exhaled loudly, solidifying the plan in his mind. He grabbed Lis' pokéball and released her. After taking in their surroundings, she turned to face her trainer. She shoot him a curious look.

"Alright, here is what we're going to do," Ryan began, "we want to make sure that Oliver is calm, so I'm going to release him and talk to him. You're here in case he tries to attack me. Okay?"

Lisette nodded in understanding.

Ryan hesitantly grabbed the other pokéball and began rolling it around in his hands. He turned to Lis once more and asked, "What do you think of him?"

A look of indifference was plastered upon her face.

Ryan shrugged; it was better than nothing. He steeled himself, then pressed the button on the pokéball. In a flash of blinding light, the Pokémon in question materialized.

He looked very disoriented, so Ryan talked slowly. "...Hey, buddy. You're my Pokémon now. You're name is Oliver." Its face contorted into a discontented frown. It looked as if it were about to attack, so Ryan decided to try a different tactic. "I suggest that you don't attack me," he stated, gesturing to Lis behind him. "That is, unless you want to get beaten again."

His last comment seemed to enrage the Buizel, but it didn't attack, recognizing the threat that Lis posed. "Do you want to know why I caught you? Because I saw that you wanted to become stronger. I can help you do that."

This caught the Buizel's attention.

"If I promise I will help you train every night, will you promise to obey me?"

The water type seemed to contemplate the deal for a minute, then he nodded. Ryan smiled. "Good. Looks like we have ourselves a deal."

Just then, the doorknob on the door that led up to the roof began to jiggle. The door slowly creaked open, only to reveal a very tired looking Cassie. "What on earth are you doing up here?" she asked with a yawn.

Ryan chuckled. "Just talking to our new friend," he said, gesturing to Oliver.

Cassie crossed her arms over her chest and began to pout. "No fair! I missed it? I was so excited to see him try and attack again!"

"Sorry, Princess. That's what you get for going to bed early."

She stuck her tongue out at him once again.

Ryan laughed warmly— things may be changing a lot, but change isn't necessarily always a bad thing.

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter gave me a little bit of trouble. I wasn't sure how I wanted to make Oliver act, but I think I did okay. The second half of this chapter was actually pretty fun to write.

Let me know what you guys thought. Good? Bad? Ugly? Stupid? Any input is good input.

See y'all next time! ^^


End file.
